CONCEPT TO REALITY PERSPECTIVE ON ISDN IMPLEMENTATION
T.E. Bell · 1990
Those of us in the standards community, and indeed much of the rest of us in the telecommunications industry have long awaited the reality of the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). The initials were repeated with a quiet reverence from time to time over the years, and all of us were accustomed to drawing little clouds called ISDN whenever we had the opportunity. In 1988 as plans for an international switched digital service, which since has become the bearer service of International ISDN, were taking shape between AT&T and KDD of Japan, we were also becoming cognisant of the need to involve the customer in our ISDN enthusiasm. Eventually, among other initiatives, this idea led to plans for an ISDN demonstration in February 1990 between AT&T, KDD and N?T. The demonstration utilized terminals from Japanese and US vendors, all operating on BRI interfaces multiplexed via AT&Ts 4ESS based Primary Rate ISDN interface, and Switched Digital International Service at 64Kb/s from New York City utilizing the AT&T-KDD international network to NlT ISN Basic Rate ISDN interfaces at demonstration sitesin Tokyo and Osaka Japan. The demo was attended by over 2000 customers in both Japan and the U.S. who were greatly impressed by ISDN capabilities. It was by every measure a great success which helped to bring ISDN to reality in the minds of potential customers. The planning and execution of a demonstration on this scale, however, highlighted many problems and challenges which are important to ponder as carriers customers and vendors alike enter the ISDN era. Based on the experiences of AT&T, KDD, and N'IT this talk will provide an overview of the trial including the architecture and terminals involved. The talk will also focus on compatibility and interoperability issues at the interface and application levels.