2006 Telecoms Infrastructure Technology - Volume 2 - Long Distance & Data

1. INFRASTRUCTURE - KEY CONCEPTS

1.1 Communication, signals and data

1.1.1 Light and sound

1.1.2 Analogue electronics

1.1.3 Digital conversion

1.1.4 Binary numbers

1.1.5 ASCII text

1.1.6 Data storage and compression

1.2 The pace of electronic technology development

1.3 Types of communication system

1.3.1 Basic communication principles

1.3.2 Basic characteristics of communication technologies

1.3.3 Analogue and digital

1.3.4 Analogue vs digital

1.4 The OSI layered model of networks and applications

1.4.1 Distributed information system

1.4.2 Purpose of OSI

1.4.3 Functions and examples

1.4.4 How the model works

1.5 The increasing importance of the Internet

1.5.1 From smoke signals to Internet

1.5.2 New foundation for future systems

1.5.3 The importance of the Internet

2. LONG DISTANCE AND GLOBAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES

2.1 Fibre, WDM

2.1.1 Historical perspective

2.1.2 Optical fibre links

2.1.3 Fibres, attenuation, dispersion and distortion

2.2 Fibre, modulation, amplification and 40Gbs

2.2.1 Soliton transmission

2.2.2 Lasers, modulation and detectors

2.2.3 40Gb/s

2.3 SDH, SONET, OTN, RPR, GMPLS

2.3.1 SDH / SONET fibre optic links

2.3.2 SDH/SONET data rates

2.3.3 Enhancements to SDH / SONET

2.3.4 RPR - Resilient Packet Ring

2.3.5 Optical switching and GMPLS

2.3.6 Optical Transport Network (OTN)

2.4 Microwave, satellite

2.4.1 Microwave links

2.4.2 Microwave Bands

2.4.3 Satellite Orbital Configurations

2.4.4 Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO)

3. THE TELEPHONE NETWORK AND VOICE CALLS

3.1 Network and calls

3.1.1 Introduction and historical perspective

3.1.2 A circuit-switched network

3.1.3 Voice calls

3.1.4 Telephone exchanges

3.2 SS7 PABXs Centrex CTI Number Portability

3.2.1 Signalling System No. 7 - SS7

3.2.2 The Intelligent Network

3.2.3 CLASS services

3.2.4 PABXs and key systems

3.2.5 Payphones

3.2.6 Centrex Services

3.2.7 CTI - Computer Telephony Integration

3.2.8 Number portability

4. DATA

4.1 Introduction

4.1.1 Circuit versus packet switching

4.1.2 Cells, frames and packets

4.1.3 ISDN primarily for voice, not data

4.1.4 Technologies for data communications

4.1.5 Voice to be carried as packets in the future

4.2 Frame relay

4.2.1 Introduction

4.2.2 Switching packets and cells

4.2.3 Permanent and Switched Virtual Circuits - PVCs and SVCs

4.2.4 Applications and futures

4.3 ATM

4.3.1 Introduction

4.3.2 Cell switching in hardware

4.3.3 Distinguishing characteristics of ATM

4.3.4 Applications and futures

4.3.5 ATM for LAN

4.3.6 Conclusion

4.4 Networks within buildings

4.4.1 Introduction

4.4.2 Ethernet and IEEE 802.3

4.4.3 Hubs, repeaters and bridges

4.4.4 Switches

4.4.5 Token Ring

4.4.6 FDDI - Fibre-Distributed Data Interface

4.4.7 Fibre Channel

4.4.8 InfiniBand

4.4.9 ATM - Asynchronous Transfer Mode

4.4.10 Wireless LANS

4.5 QoS, MPLS and VPLS

4.5.1 Introduction and Terminology

4.5.2 DiffServ

4.5.3 MPLS

4.5.4 The MPLS Label

4.5.5 Edge and core devices

4.5.6 QoS characteristics

4.5.7 Virtual Circuits and virtual LANs

4.5.8 Draft-Martini and beyond

5. GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS

Exhibit 1 - OSI layered model: a web-browsing example

Exhibit 2 - Long distance fibre communication wavelength bands

Exhibit 3 - Microwave band terminology

Exhibit 4 - CLASS Services

Table 1 - SDH and SONET Data Rates

Table 2 - Virtual Concatenation Base Container Approximate Bandwidths