Table of Contents:

Definition and Overview

1. Introduction

2. Major Market Trends Affecting Carrier Network Architectures

3. Provisioning Integrated Services on Legacy Platforms

4. The New Converged Multilayer Switch Platform

5. Multilayer Switching Architecture

6. Conclusion

Self-Test

Glossary

PDF of this tutorial

ASAP@
a multiprotocol that enables any service on any port at any time

ATM
asynchronous transfer mode

CAS
channel associated signaling

CCS
common channel signaling

CES
circuit emulation services

CLEC
competitive local exchange carrier

CoS
class of service

DCS
digital cross-connect system

DWDM
dense wave-division multiplexing

ILEC
incumbent local exchange carrier

IMA
inverse multiplexing for ATM

IP
Internet protocol

IXC
interexchange carrier

OSI
open systems interconnection

POP
point of presence

PPP
point-to-point protocol

QoS
quality of service

SLA
service-level agreement

TDM
time-division multiplexing

WDM
wave-division multiplexing