The completely updated nontechnical telecom guide for business people and
other professionals.
- Advanced cellular networks
- Optical technologies
- Globalization
- Convergence
- The Internet
- Cable modems and DSL
In the past two years, the telecommunications industry has undergone major
changes. The Essential Guide to Telecommunications, Third Edition, is
your complete guide to the new realities of telecommunications. This new edition
reflects all of today's most critical issues, trends and technologies. In
addition to providing crucial insights into the fast-changing competitive
landscape, Annabel Dodd provides important information about the structure of,
and key players in, the industry.
The Essential Guide to Telecommunications, Third Edition will give you
an easy-to-comprehend, broad understanding of this fast-changing industry.
Coverage includes:
- Optical technologies expanded
- Advanced cellular networks: 2.5G and 3G standards
- Speech recognition, call centers and PBXs
- Comprehensive coverage of key players and the state of telecommunications
in Europe, Asia, and Latin America
- Updated and expanded coverage of the Internet and convergence
Table of Contents
Preface.
Acknowledgments.
I. FUNDAMENTALS.
1. Basic Concepts.
Analog and Digital. Analog Signals. Digital
Signals. Bauds, Bits, Bytes and Codes-Getting Down to Basics. Overview. Baud
Rate vs. Bits per Second-Electrical Signal Rates vs. Amount of Information Sent.
Codes-Adding Meaning to Bits. A Byte = A Character. Bandwidth-Measuring
Capacity. Narrowband vs. Wideband-Slow and Fast. Compression and Multiplexing.
Compression-Manipulating Data for More Capacity. Streaming Media.
Multiplexing-Let's Share. Protocols and Architectures. Architectures-A Framework
for Multiple Networks to Communicate. LANs, MANs and WANs. LANs-Local Area
Networks. LAN and WAN Devices. Home LANs-Sharing Printers and High-Speed
Internet Access-A Lack of Technical Support. MANs-Metropolitan Area Networks.
WANs-Wide Area Networks. Higher Speed Services for LAN Traffic. New Devices for
Carrier and Internet Service Provider Networks.
2. Telephone Systems, Peripherals and Cabling.
Telephone Systems-PBXs, Centrex and Key Systems.
What Is a PBX? PBX Trunks. Demarcation-The Location Where Telcos Wire Trunks.
PBX Telephones. Centrex-Telephone Company Supplied Service. Key Systems.
Wireless PBX and Key System Telephones-On-Site Mobility. Direct-Inward
Dialing-Bypassing the Operator for Incoming Calls. Convergence and Telephone
Systems. Add-on Peripherals for Key Systems, PBXs and Centrex Systems. Call
Accounting-Tracking Calls and Usage. ACDs-Specialized Equipment to Handle Large
Volumes of Calls. Network-Based ACD Functions. LAN/PBX/ACD Connectivity to
Enhance Productivity. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for Call Centers.
Integrated Voice Response Units-Using the Telephone as a Computer Terminal.
Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)-Routing Callers More Intelligently. Media:
Wireless, Fiber and Unshielded Twisted Pair Copper. Wireless LANs. Electrical
Properties of Copper Cabling. Fiber Optic Cabling-High Capacity and High Costs.
II. INDUSTRY OVERVIEW.
3. The Bell System and Regulatory Affairs.
The Bell System Prior to and after 1984.
Divestiture of the Bell System from AT&T in 1984. Regional Bell Operating
Companies (RBOCs) after 1996. Transporting Calls Between Carriers. Local
Competition Prior to the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Uneven Competition for
Local Telephone Service Throughout the U.S. Competitive Access Providers (CAPs)
to Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs). The Evolving View of the
Feasibility of Local Competition. Factors Leading to Passage of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996. Regional Bell Companies' Desire to Expand Their
Offerings. Interexchange Carriers', Utility and Cable TV Companies' Desires to
Enter New Markets. Demand for High-Speed Telecommunications Services.
Technological Capabilities to Provide High-Speed Services at Low Costs. The
Viability of Wireless Services for Local Exchange Service. The Desire for a
Uniform National Policy on Local Competition. The Telecommunications Act of
1996. Major Features of the Act. Post Telecommunications Act of 1996
Developments. FCC Rulings, Legal Challenges and Progress Toward Deregulation.
Permission for RBOCs to Sell In-Region Long Distance. Unbundled Network Elements
(UNEs)-Competitors Leasing Parts of RBOCs' Networks. Fines Levied on Incumbents
for Failure to Provide Timely Access to Competitors. Reciprocal Payments. Local
Access Fees-A Shift in Balance Between Local and Long Distance Costs. Local
Number Portability. Creating an Equal Playing Field and Conserving Numbers. Four
Types of Telephone Number Portability. Impact of the Telecommunications Act of
1996. Appendix.
4. Network Service Providers and Local Competition.
Local Competition. Strategies for Entering the
Local Calling Market-Resale, Wireless, Cable TV and Construction of Facilities.
Carriers. Interexchange Carriers-IEXs. Bandwidth Trading: The Commoditization of
Bandwidth. Merchants-Managing Risk for Carriers. Exchanges-A Place to Make
Trades. Master Trading Agreements-Shortening the Transaction Cycle. Local
Service Providers. AT&T. Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (Integrated
Communications Providers). Resellers and Switchless Resellers. Building Local
Exchange Carriers (BLECs). Agents. Summary.
5. The Public Network.
Switched Services-Local and Long Distance
Calling. Attributes of Real-Time Switching Services. DTMF: Access to Voice Mail
and Computers. Store-and-Forward Switching-Nonsimultaneous Sending and
Receiving. Dedicated Services. Overview of Dedicated Services. Network
Topologies-The View from the Top. Declining Sales of Private Lines. Virtual
Private Networks-Connectivity for Remote Access, Intranets and Extranets. VPNs
(Virtual Private Networks) for Electronic Commerce. VPNs for Intranet Service.
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) for Remote Access. Security on Virtual Private
Networks. “The Last Mile” or Access Networks. End and Tandem Central Offices.
Digital Loop Carrier Systems-Fiber Optics and Copper Cabling in the Last Mile.
Carrier Hotels-Interconnecting Carriers and Providing Secure Space for
Equipment. Optical Networking. Passive Optical Networks. Optical Add and Drop
Multiplexers (OADM). Optical Cross Connects (OXC)-Optical Switches. Network
Intelligence and Signaling. Overview of Signaling. Background. Common Channel
Signaling, Efficiency and Redundancy. Signaling System 7-The Glue for Links
Between Carriers. SS7 Components. Convergence-Technical Advances Leading to
Improvements in IP Networks. Improvements in Routers. Digital Signal Processors
(DSPs). Voice Compression. Higher Capacity Networks-Optical Technologies.
Softswitches-Programmable Switches. The Quality of Service Issue for Voice over
IP. SS7 in Packet Networks. Examples of Converged Networks. Free Calls or Low
Priced Calls over the Internet. H.323-A Way to Make Telephone Calls over IP.
Prepaid Calls over the Internet. Document Sharing and Click to Talk. Document
Sharing. Summary.
III. ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES, THE INTERNET AND WIRELESS.
6. Specialized Network Services.
T-1-24 Voice or Data Paths over One Telephone
Circuit. Channel Banks-Connecting T-1 to Analog PBXs and Central Offices. DS-0
and DS-1-64,000 or 56,000 vs. 1,544,000 bps. Media Used for T-1 Signals.
European vs. American and Japanese T-1-24 vs. 30 Channels. A Sampling of T-1
Configurations Using T-1 for Combining Voice, Fax, Video and Data. Fractional
T-1-When 24 Paths Are Not Required. T-3-The Capacity of 28 T-1 Lines, 672
Channels. An Explanation of Time Division Multiplexing and Its Limitations.
ISDN-Integrated Services Digital Network. Basic Rate Interface ISDN-Two Channels
at 64,000 Bit per Second. Primary Rate Interface ISDN-24 Channels. Digital
Subscriber Line Technology. Competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) and DSL.
Incumbent Telephone Company DSL Offerings. DSLAMs-Digital Subscriber Line Access
Multiplexers. Obstacles to Digital Subscriber Line Availability-Cost, Ease of
Implementation and Availability. DSL Lite-Lower Cost Service. DSL-A Technical
Explanation. Frame Relay-A Shared Wide Area Network Service. Connections to
Frame Relay-Frame Relay Access Devices and Access Line Speeds. Frame Relay for
Transmitting Voice. Frame Relay Pricing-Ports, Circuits and Committed
Information Rate. Potential Congestion on Frame Relay. Interfacing Between
Carriers' Frame Relay Networks. Gigabit Ethernet-Ethernet over Fiber in
Metropolitan Areas. Gigabit Ethernet Providers-OLECs. Gigabit Ethernet Through
Partners. Gigabit Ethernet Availability. The Advantages of Using Ethernet. Speed
Options-Bandwidth on Demand. Gigabit Ethernet Features at Lower Prices. A Sample
Metropolitan Area Gigabit Ethernet Configuration. ATM-Asynchronous Transfer
Mode. Fixed-Sized Cells-Less Processing. Switching in Hardware-Less Address
Lookup. Asynchronous Switching-Improving Network Utilization. Bursting-Selling
More Than the Total Capacity. Scalability-The Ability to Use ATM for High- and
Low-Speed Applications and IP Traffic. Elements of an ATM Network.
SONET-Synchronous Optical Network. SONET Rings-For Greater Reliability.
Telephone Company SONET Offerings. SONET Connections to Wave Division
Multiplexers. Meshed Optical Technology-Lower Costs, More Suitable for Data than
SONET.
7. Analog, Cable TV and Digital Modems and Set-Top Boxes.
Transferring Data from Computers to Telephone
Lines. DCE-Connections to Telephone Lines. Modems-Analog Telephone Lines for
Transmitting Data from Digital Devices. Fax Modems. 56-Kbps Modems to Achieve
Higher Speeds. PCMCIA Modems-Smaller Is Better. NT1S-CONNECTING DEVICES TO AN
ISDN LINE. CSU/DSUs-Connecting Devices to a Digital Line. Cable Modems-Using
Cable TV Facilities for Data Communications. Reverse Channels for Two-Way Data
Communications. Cable Modems. Cable Modems for Business and for Remote Access.
Set-Top Boxes. Interoperable Set-Top Boxes. Digital Cable TV. Appendix: Modem
Standards.
8. The Internet.
The History of the Internet. Bulletin Board
Systems (BBSs). Who Runs the Internet? Who Owns the Internet? Peering-A Way to
Exchange Data Between Networks. Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and
Caching-Solving the Problem of Bogged-Down Web Sites. Internet Services. The
World Wide Web-Linking and Graphics. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)-Formatting
Web Pages. Home Pages. Hosting-Computers Connected to the Internet with Home
Pages. Browsers-Moving from Web Site to Web Site. Email-Computers that Send,
Store and Receive Messages. Email Attachments-To Aid Collaborative Projects.
HTML Email as a Marketing Tool. Instant Messaging-Real-Time Text Chats. Internet
Service Providers, Application Service Providers and Portals. Dialup and
Dedicated Internet Access. Application Service Providers (ASPs). Portals-Content
as Well as Internet Access. Search Engines. Internet Addresses.
Registries-Management of Entire Top-Level Domains. Registrars. Numeric IP
Addresses. The Structure of Internet Addresses and Adding Capacity for More
Addresses. New Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs). Country Code Top-Level Domain
Names (ccTLDs). Electronic Commerce and Advertising on the Web. Advertising on
the Web-A Source of Revenue. Online Commerce-What Is Profitable and Sells?
Privacy on the World Wide Web. Opt-out vs. Opt-in-Different Approaches to
Protecting Privacy. Legal Issues. Post-Napster Music Industry Online Efforts.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)-Royalties for Radio over the
Internet. Anti-pornography Laws and Freedom of Speech. Filtering
Software-Policing Corporate Browsing and Email. Open Cable-Cable Companies as
Both ISPs and Network Service Providers. ISP Service for Cable TV. Open Cable
Service-Trialing Connections to Other IPS. Intranets and Extranets.
Intranets-Impact of Web Technology on Internal Operations. Extranets-Using
Internet Technology with Customers, Partners and Vendors. Security on the World
Wide Web- Establishing Trust. Public and Private Keys and Digital Certificates.
Firewalls and Tunneling. Making the Internet a Trusted Place to Do Business.
Conclusion.
9. Wireless Services.
Historical Background of Mobile and Cellular
Services. Spectrum Allocation. Spectrum for Higher Speed 3G Services. Cellular
Telephone Service-Technologies. Advanced Mobile Phone Services (AMPS).
Digital-Advanced Mobile Phone Service-D-AMPS. PCS-Personal Communications
Services. GSM Service. Specialized Mobile Frequencies for Voice-Nextel. Cellular
Vendors. Verizon Wireless. Cingular Wireless. AT&T Wireless. GSM Providers.
Sprint PCS. The Structure of Cellular Networks. The Cellular Market. Efforts to
Improve Service-Antenna Improvements. Health Concerns. Safety on the Road.
Privacy and Advertising Intrusions on Cellular E911. Called Party Pays-An
Impediment to Cellular Usage. Limited Mobility Wireless for Local Telephone
Service. Wireless Number Portability-Keeping the Same Number When Changing
Carriers. Limitations of Circuit-Switched Cellular for Data Communications.
CDPD-Cellular Digital Packet Data, IP Wireless. The Transition from Second to
Third Generation Cellular Networks. The Transition to W-CDMA - GPRS-Data Carried
as Packets in 2.5G Networks. EDGE-Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution.
Upgrades to W-CDMA from GSM-Costly. The Transition to cdma2000-1xRTT (First
Generation cdma2000) and HDR (High Data Rate). A Comparison Between W-CDMA and
cdma2000. Handsets for 3G and 2.5G Services. All-Packet Cellular Networks for
Voice and Data. 4G-Futures. Mobile Internet Access, Messaging Services and
Bluetooth. Mobile Commerce. Short Messaging Service (SMS). Bluetooth. The
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). i-mode Service Worldwide. Specialized
Mobile Radio-Originally Voice, Later Data. Private Networks over Mobile Radio
Frequencies. Specialized Mobile Radio-Packetized Data Networks for Two-Way Email
and Field Services. Paging Services. Paging vs. Wireless Telephone Service.
Two-Way Paging Using Narrowband PCS. Satellites. VSAT Service-Small Satellite
Dishes. Vendors of LEOs. Time Division Multiple Access, GSM and Code Division
Multiple Access Air Interfaces. Code Division Multiple Access. Time Division
Multiple Access and GSM.
10. Globalization
The Impetus to Deregulate. Steps in
Deregulation. Challenges. Trends in Global Markets. Latin America. Brazil.
Mexico. Argentina. Impact of Poverty. Asia. China. Japan. The Internet. Cellular
Service. Europe. The European Union. Cellular Service. Germany. The United
Kingdom. France. Africa and the Middle East-Emerging Markets. Africa. The Middle
East. Conclusion.
Glossary.
Bibliography.
Index.