Telecommunications

Telecommunications Present Status and Future

1. Introduction

1.1 Yesterday and Today

1.2 Tomorrow

1.3 Report Synopsis

2. The Coming of the Information Age

3. The Promise of Advanced Technology

3.1 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Expert Systems

3.2 Photonics

3.2.1 Optical Fiber Transmission Systems

3.2.2 Other Photonic Applications

3.3 Wireless Networking

3.4 Broadband Switching and Transmission

3.4.1 Frame Relay

3.4.2 Cell Relay

3.4.3 Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS)

3.4.4 Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)

3.4.5 Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)

3.5 Satellites

3.6 Hardware and Software Technologies

3.7 Processors

3.8 Evolutionary Trends

4. The Role of Government and Standards

4.1 The ONA Method

4.2 The Standard Making Process

4.3 The OSI Model

5. The Impact of Market Forces and User Needs

5.1 The Role of the Providers and Suppliers

5.2 The Role of the User

6. The Emergence of New Products, Systems, and Services

6.1 Advanced Terminals and Services

6.2 User/Provider Interconnections

6.3 Standardized Broadband Services

7. The Evolution of Networks

7.1 Globalization of Telecommunications Service

7.1.1 Digitization

7.1.2 Integration

7.1.3 Packetization

7.1.4 Privatization

7.1.5 Standardization

7.2 LANs, MANs, and WANs

7.2.1 Local Area Networks (LANs)

7.2.2 Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs)

7.2.3 Wide Area Networks (WANs)

7.2.4 Interworking Devices: Repeaters, Bridges, Routers, and Gateways

7.3 Advanced Network Architectures

7.3.1 Virtual Private Line Networks (VPLN) and Software Defined Networks (SDN)

7.3.2 Intelligent Networks (IN) and Advanced Intelligent Networks (AIN)

7.3.3 Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)

7.3.4 Broadband ISDN (B-ISDN)

7.3.5 Internet and NREN

7.3.6 Personal Communications Network (PCN) and Universal Personal Telecommunications (UPT)

7.3.7 Signaling and Network Management

7.4 Summary of Capabilities and Applications

8. The Critical Trends and Issues

8.1 Pertinent Quotes

8.2 Seven Ten Year Projections

8.3 Issues and Actions Impacting Telecommunications

8.3.1 Standardization

8.3.2 Government Policies

8.3.3 Telecommunications Infrastructure

8.3.4 Privacy, Security, and Fraud

8.3.5 A Comment Concerning Issues

9. Conclusions and Recommendations

10. Addendum—Telecommunications Trends Update

11. References

Appendix—Possible Broadband Services in ISDN

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Definitions