Telecommunications History (1) Telecommunications History (2)

n Telecommunications: communicating at a distance n Electrical telecommunications history

n Early history l Telegraphs using electrical signals on wires
u First developed by Henry in 1831 A.D.
l Messengers and relay systems -- Egyptian King Sesostris I (1971-1928 B.C.)
u Repeaters invented by Samuel Morse and Western Union founded in 1845
l Pigeons -- Egyptians released pigeons from incoming ships (ca. 2900 B.C.)
l Telephony
l Heliographs (Greece ca. 405 B.C.) and flags (Greece ca. 410 B.C.)
u Philip Reise sent sound over wires in 1854
l Beacons -- siege of Troy by the Greek army (ca. 1184 B.C.), and later ...
u Alexander Graham Bell obtained a patent for the telephone in 187 6
One if by land, and two if by sea
u Eliza Gray independently invented the telephone simultaneously
And I on the opposite shore will be
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm.
-- Longfellow, Paul Revere’s Ride
l Telegraphs -- Aeneas (Greece ca. 200 B.C.) used coded torch messages

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Telecommunications History (3) Telecommunications History (4)

n Telephony in the U.S. n The Telecommunications Act of 1996 provides further reform
l Bell Telephone Company formed in 1877; became AT&T in 1885 l The first legislative reform since the Communications Act of 1934
l Independents began in 1893 when the telephone patent expired l Intended to open competition
l Kingsbury commitment (1913) u Local and long -distance

u AT&T would stop buying independent telephone companies u Video (cable TV), voice, and data

u AT&T would allow independents to connect to the AT&T network l Restrictions on RBOCs to be removed when local access becomes competitive
l Communications Act of 1934 l Mechanisms for providing Internet access to schools and public libraries
u Federal Communications Commission (FCC) established -- regulates

interstate communication
u State public utility commissions (PUCs) regulate intrastate communication
§ Mergers, Splits, and New Entries
u Protect the public from high prices and bad service
• Verizon (Bell Atlantic, Nynex, GTE)
l Carterfone Decision of 1968 permitted private devices to be connected to the
• SBC (Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell, Ameritech)
telephone network • Qwest and U.S. West
l Divestiture occurred when the Modified Final Judgment (MFJ) of Judge Harold
• AT&T self divests manufacturing (Lucent and NCR)
Green went into effect on January 1, 1984 • MCI Worldcom
u Separate AT&T and seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs)

were formed

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History of Computer Networks Networks

n With computers came the need to send data n A network is an interconnection of two or more cooperating devices
l Between a computer and its peripherals, including terminals l The telephone network -- interconnection of telephones and switches
l Between different computers l Computer networks -- interconnection of computers

n First networks for remote access to centralized computers (early 1960’s) n Geographic extent
n Distributed computing connected computers (late 1970’s) l Local area networks (LANs)
u Limited extent -- 10’s of meters to a few kilometers

u Low cost, low delay

Terminals l Metropolitan area networks (MANs)

u Medium extent -- 10’s of kilometers

u Medium cost, medium delay

M
U Computer l Wide area networks (WANs)
X u Large extent -- global

u High cost, high delay

Remote access terminals

Robert Metcalfe’s Ethernet (1976)

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 Switching
Circuit Switching
n Information in a network must move from end-point to end-point -- switching
is required to connect the end-points n A session (call) is initiated with a request for a fixed transmission rate
n Basic types of switching n A path is created through the network
l Circuit switching l Each switch allocates capacity on links along a path using frequency -division
l Store-and-forward switching (message-switched, packet-switched, cell-switched) multiplexing (FDM) or time-division multiplexing (TDM)
l Request is blocked if a path cannot be established (busy signal)

Network n Bandwidth is dedicated to the session for its duration

Control n TDM example

assigned to slot 2
CB...A CB...A

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2
Switches
C B A
End-points
(Nodes)

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Store-and-Forward Switching Circuit versus Store-and -Forward Switching

n No transmission bandwidth is reserved when call is set-up n Store-and-forward switching advantages

n Data may be transmitted at full capacity of the link, but links can be shared l Link can be fully utilized if there is data to transmit -- no need to wait for time

by multiple sessions on an on-demand basis slot (with TDM) or use only limited bandwidth (with FDM)
l Delay can be reduced since full bandwidth can be used
n Routing through the network may be
l Better for “bursty ” traffic like data
l Fixed -- virtual circuit service (connection -oriented)
l Dynamic -- datagram service (connectionless) n Circuit switching advantages
l Reduced variance in delay -- store-and-forward incurs queueing delay
l No need for extensive buffering and flow control in switches
no reserved bandwidth l Better for voice and other uses where guaranteed bandwidth and latency are

CB...A C...BA needed

n Current trends
l Links are less expensive

l Multiple traffic types on the same “integrated” network -- voice, video, data

C B A l Cell-based switching offers bandwidth -on-demand with reduced latency -- used

in Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switching

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Standards Telecommunication “Drivers”

n Standards are critical to interoperability of equipment and services n Technology

l Fiber optics -- low-cost, high -bandwidth, long distances
u High-bandwidth wide-area links available
ITU
u Bandwidth is becoming much cheaper

l Radio communication -- low-cost service and equipment, increased spectrum

u Ubiquitous service
ITU-R ITU-T
u Widely varying bandwidth requirements

l Semiconductors -- lower cost, higher density, increased speeds

ISO
ITU: International Telecommunications Union u Low-cost digital signal processing

ITU-R: ITU-Radio u High-speed, low-cost switching

ANSI
ITU-T: ITU-Telecommunications (CCITT) u Low-cost, high -performance customer premises equipment (CPE)

ISO: International Organization for Standards l Processors and software -- more powerful processors, modular software
IEEE
IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics u “Soft” protocols implemented in software

Engineers PTTs /FCC u Flexible, highly configurable features and services

PTT: Post, Telephone, Telegraph u Powerful network management and control

FCC: Federal Communications Commission Industry

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 Telecommunication “Drivers” (continued) Telecommunication Trends

n Applications and markets n Future networks will integrate

l Economy becoming information-driven l Voice -- standard voice services, voice messaging
l Distributed work groups, “virtual corporations” l Video -- video -on-demand, videoconferencing, interactive multimedia

l Multimedia information l Data -- information access, transactions, distributed computing

l Video -on-demand, interactive entertainment and education n Features
l INTERNET l Low-cost bandwidth-on-demand
n Regulatory and political l New types of customer premises equipment
l Global/National Information Infrastructure (GII/NII) l New “partnerships”
• Voice
l Deregulation and competition
• Video
u Long-distance service and leased -line (inter-LATA -- local access and Data Networks • Data Content
transport area)
u Local service (intra-LATA)
Integrated
u Cable
Marketing
Telephony Services
Strategies
Networks
New
Cable TV Applications

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Alternatives for Interconnecting Switches

Telephone Network Overview
n Two basic approaches
n Evolution of the public telephone network l Hierarchical networks (tree graphs)
l Pre-divestiture l Mesh-connected network
l Post-divestiture n Hybrid schemes are also possible
n Three basic elements of a telephone network l Hierarchical backbone

l Terminals l Augmented by links to reduce traffic and path lengths

l Transmission systems
l Switching
3rd level

Transmission Mesh-Connected
Hierarchical

Switching 2nd level

1st level
Terminals
( (
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Bell System Network Hierarchy - 1982 (1)

Bell System Network Hierarchy (2)
n Five switch classes
1 1 Regional center 10
n Backbone hierarchical network augmented by:
l High usage trunks
l Tandem switches to directly connect end offices in an exchange area
2 2 Sectional center 52
n Tandem switch is the term generally applied to a switch that provides
intermediate switching within an exchange area

3 3 Primary center 148

4 Toll office

4 4 Toll center 508

EO EO
Direct
trunk
5 5 End office (EO) 9,803 EO EO
Tandem
office
( ... ( ( ... ( Number in Bell System

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 Changes Leading to the Post -divestiture US Network
Post- divestiture US Network Hierarchy
n Technology led to larger switches
l Large digital switches
l Use of software to provide multi-function switches (end office, tandem, toll)
l Widespread deployment of fiber optic transmission systems IXC
n Divestiture of Bell operating companies from AT&T
l Network partitioned
u Inter-exchange carriers (IXCs) -- AT&T, MCI, Sprint, ...
IXC
u Local exchange carriers (LECs) -- Bell Atlantic, NYNEX, GTE, ...

l Local access and transport areas (LATAs) established

u LECs carry intra-LATA (within a LATA) traffic

u IXCs carry inter-LATA (between LATAs) traffic

l Equal access for all IXCs

u Each IXC can have one point-of-presence (POP) in each LATA
POPs
u Connection for each IXC identical in type, price, and quality
LATA
l Connection between a POP and an EO can have at most one intermed iate switch POP
u Direct with end office via a direct inter-LATA connecting (DIC) trunk group

u Connection to an intermediate switch, called an access tandem (AT) switch, LATA

via a tandem inter-LATA connection (TIC) trunk group

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