Table of Contents:

Definition and Overview

1. Introduction

2. Voice and Data—The History

3. Leveraging the Legacy Infrastructure

4. Moving Forward: The Converged Switching Architecture

5. Opportunities for Carriers

6. The Next-Generation Carrier

Self-Test

Glossary

PDF of this tutorial

ATM
asynchronous transfer mode

CBR
constant bit rate

CLEC
competitive local exchange carrier

CO
central office

DACS
digital access cross-connect system

DS
digital signal

DSLAM
digital subscriber line access multiplexer

ILEC
incumbent local exchange carrier

IP
Internet protocol

ISDN
integrated services digital network

ISP
Internet service provider

IXC
interexchange carrier

LATA
local access and transport area

OSS
operations support system

PRI
primary rate interface

PSTN
public switched telephone network

QoS
quality of service

RBOC
regional Bell operating company

SNMP
simple network management protocol

SS7
signaling system 7

TDM
time division multiplex

TMN
telecommunications management network