BOSTON--Though network operators spend much of their time these days managing Layer 2 and Layer 3 technologies, the network of the future will be dominated by Layer 5, said Malik Khan, chairman and chief executive officer of NexTone Communications.

In a keynote delivered at the Voice on the Net show in Boston Tuesday, Khan stressed that session management will be among the most important aspects of the Internet of the future as it increasingly takes on voice and other communications. And since session management occurs at Layer 5, engineers looking for valuable expertise should get to know Layer 5.

“Layer 5, the layer none of us grew up doing anything with, is going to become a very prominent layer in the Internet,” he said. “A new generation of session-layer specialists are going to run the networks of tomorrow.”

As activity on the next-generation Internet will be defined by billions of sessions, it cannot be managed by a centralized intelligence and must contain much more intelligence at the edge and at peering points than it does now, Khan added.

Subscriber management will also have to evolve to meet the expectations of consumers, who will one day want to watch, and perhaps purchase, video content over their mobile phones from anywhere in the world.

Khan urged industry members in the audience to work together to create forums and standards to cultivate session management technology and expertise.