Basic Telecommunications Systems in Software

Encoding QR Code in Software Basic Telecommunications Systems

When the FCC began removing regulatory barriers for the long distance and customer premises equipment (CPE) markets, its goal was to increase competition through the number of suppliers in these markets Recently, consumers have begun to enjoy lower prices and new bundled service offerings The local and long distance markets are examples of the new direction taken by the FCC in the 1980s to eliminate and mitigate the traditional telephone monopoly into a set of competitive markets Although these two components of the monopoly have been stripped away, barriers still exist at the local access network the portion of the public network that extends between the IEC network and the end user The local loop and the basic telecommunications infrastructure are not as readily available as one would like to think The growth of private network alternatives improves with facilities-based competition in the transport of communications services The industry realizes that more than 500 competitive local exchange carriers have grown out of the deregulation of the monopolies These CLECs include cable television networks, wireless telephone networks, local area networks (LANs), and metropolitan area networks Incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) indicate that their networks are continually evolving into a multimedia platform capable of delivering a rich variety of text, imaging, and messaging services as a direct response to the competition Many suggest that their networks are wide open, for all competitors Imagine an open network a network with well-defined interfaces accessible to all allowing an unlimited number of entrants a means to offer competitive services limited only by their imagination and the capabilities of the local loop network facilities If natural monopolies are still in the local exchange network, open access to these network resources must be fostered to promote a competitive market in spite of the monopolistic nature of the ILECs The FCC continues to wrestle with how far it has to go and what requirements are necessary to open and equal access to the network Network unbundling, the process of breaking the network into separate functional elements, opens the local access to competition CLECs select unbundled components they need to provide their own service If the unbundled price is still too expensive, the service provider will provide its own private resources This is the facilities-based provider All too often, we hear about new suppliers who offer high-speed services, better than the incumbent Yet, these suppliers are typically using the Bell System s wires to get to the consumer s door The only change that occurs is the person to whom we send the bill Hardly a competitive local networking strategy As a result, the new providers (CATV, wireless local loop, IEC, and facilities-based CLEC) are now in the mode to provide their own facilities

Telecommunications network components fall into logical or physical elements A logical element is a software-defined network (SDN) or virtual private network (VPN) feature or capability This SDN or VPN feature can be as simple as the number translation performed in a switch to establish a call Switching systems have evolved into the use of external signaling systems to set up and tear down the call These external physical and logical components formulate the basis of a network element Moreover, Intelligent Networks (and Advanced Intelligent Networks) have surpassed the wildest expectations of the service provider These logical extensions of the network bear higher revenue while opening the network up to a myriad of new services Number portability can also be categorized into the logical elements because the number switching and logic are no longer bound to a specific system A physical element is the actual switching element, such as the link or the matrices used internally A network is made up of a unique sequence of logical elements implemented by physical elements Given the local exchange network and local transport markets, open mandates had to be considered because the LEC has the power to stall competition In many documented cases the LECs have purposefully dragged their feet to stall the competition and to discredit the new provider in the eyes of the customer This is a matter of survival of the fittest The ILECs have the edge over the network components because their networks were built over the past 120 + years This is the basis for the deregulatory efforts in the networks, because the LECs are fighting to survive the onslaught of new providers who are in the cream-skimming mode If access mandates are necessary, to what degree These and other issues are driving the technological innovation, competition at the local loop, and the development of higher capacity services in a very competitive manner