Technological FOUNDATIONS FOR CONVERGENCE(2) 1. Digitization/Digital storage 2. NETWORKING/BROADBAND 3. WIRELESS/WI-FI 4. Spectrum management 2. NETWORKING TELEPHONE NETWORK What is Telecommunication? http://www.assignmenthelp.net/assignment_help/What-is-Telecommunication Telecommunication systems is a specialized system for communicating at a distance. The term telecommunication sometimes also referred as telecom. A Device refers to the exchange of information by electronic and electrical medium over a significant distance. An arrangement which is made up of two or more station with equal number of transmitter and receiver devices is a telecommunication system. Telecommunication devices are telephones, telegraph, radio, microwave communication arrangements, fibre optics, satellites and the internet. Telecommunication is a vast range of information-transmitting technology such as mobile phones, land lines telephone, VOIP and broadcast network. Data transmitted in the form of electrical signals known as carrier waves, which are modulated into analog or digital signals to transmit information. Components of Telecommunication Telecommunication systems is emphasis of some of the essential components that transmit data from one end to another through an electronic medium and each component perform different task. Now learn what they component exactly do and the task perform by each component. One of the most important component required is computers to process information. Then input or output devices to send and receive data which are also referred as terminals. Input and output are starting and stopping poles of any communication. In network these terminals known as nodes which can be a computer or peripheral devices and if we take real life example then mobile phone/landline is as example of terminals. Communication channels that link the terminals by the various ways of cables and wireless radio frequencies to transmit and receive data. Communication processor like modem which 1 provide control and support functions and help to convert the signal from one form to another by providing communication support for data transmission and reception. Communication Software is used to manage the network and specify the protocol which handle the telecommunication system also handle and control the activities and functionality. Functions of Telecommunication • The primary function of telecommunication systems is Transmits information to far distance and establish interface between sender and receiver by some means of transmission mode or way. • Since terminals and nodes are connected randomly in the network so this systems route the message along the most efficient paths that take minimum time to send message to the receiver end. Transmission of the data and reception of the message is done in uninterrupted way and come shortest path and minimum time. • This systems also ensure that right message received by right user only and while transmitting is also check for transmission errors. • As we know network use different software and hardware to transmit data via communication channels and that vary with the different medium so the telecommunication is responsible for converting and managing the speed of transmission independent to the platform. Also convert message from one format to another because information represented in different way to the different platform. • Control the flow of information that dependent on the communication channels and the terminals used to transmit information. So this system control both of them accordingly. The Internet and the Public Switched Telephone Network Disparities, Differences, and Distinctions https://www.internetsociety.org/sites/default/files/The%20Internet%20and%20the%20Public %20Switched%20Telephone%20Network.pdf This paper discusses the telephone network infrastructure commonly known as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and provides insight into fundamental differences between the "traditional" telecommunications network and the Internet. The Internet has evolved from a research computer network to a vibrant communication platform, based on competition, regulatory independence and transparency, and continuous innovation. Today a significant amount of the world’s voice traffic travels over IP-based networks and the Internet. However, legacy PSTN regulations cannot be transferred or applied directly to the Internet, as there is little commonality between it and the PSTN. Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) The Public Switched Telephone Network was designed to facilitate ubiquitous two-way voice communication. Initially, establishing a direct connection between any two points or users was almost as simple as stringing wire between those points and placing telephones on either end. The cost of this connection was largely a function of the location of each endpoint or end- user and the distance and the geography between the two points; cost increased with an increase in distance and decrease in accessibility. Over time the telephony network evolved to support more users and endpoints through a network of switches. Engineers capitalized on the point-to-point nature of telephony network 2 architecture and the fact that one end user can could only be connected to one other end user at a time. By placing switching equipment in centralized locations, network engineers were able to interconnect large numbers of end users via these switches to maximize network access; thus the concept ofcircuit switching was born. This revolutionized voice communications and telephony network design, creating the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) architecture that is still in place today. The network focus is on circuit-based, or connection- oriented, systems designed for delivery of one universal service – voice. Essentially, this established a system in which each usage of the network required a “call-setup” phase in which a connection was set up end-to-end or between both endpoints and end users, reserving the required resources along the path for the duration of a call whether the network resources were used or not. This system allowed the network operator to efficiently route and bill for the calls because each step of the call path is identified and managed by the network and its switching systems. The diagram above shows that by arranging telephony network switching offices in a hierarchical fashion by the function that they performed and employing dedicated trunk lines between the networked switches, it was possible to scale the telecommunications network to accommodate a large number of end users as traffic was managed between the various switching offices depending on the type of traffic that was to be connected: local traffic, long distance traffic and international traffic. PSTN switches operate on a link-by-link basis: each switch within the hierarchy forwards its traffic along the link or hop to the next PSTN switch based on the call setup process. Importantly, in order to establish arbitrary connections, intelligence had to be placed in the network. Initially operators made physical connections for customers followed by stepper switches that could connect end users based on telephone number prefix, and eventually digital switching using stored program control systems (i.e., computers) was introduced to add intelligence to the network for service management. Whether through manual, electro- mechanical, or digital means, the PSTN operates on the basis of having type or class identified for each line in service (e.g. Business or Residential), carefully engineered interconnection arrangements between operators, networks and switches, with service provisioning provided solely by its network and closed operator group. This PSTN structure provides network operators the ability to physically measure service between end users and through this mechanism, to charge customers, to exchange interconnection settlements and to recover network capital costs. 3 The Internet The Internet is a both a transit network that moves data and a network of computers, which allow anyone to access, retrieve, process, and store all manner of information in digital format (e.g. voice, video, documents, images). In Internet Protocol based (IP) networks, multiple independent computer networks are joined together into a network of networks through interconnected gateways or routers using a standard protocol suite –Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) for interworking. Internet traffic has no dedicated path; there is no single interconnection point or fixed network hierarchy as employed in the PSTN; and there is no dedicated settlement and billing regime. In fact, PSTN-style telecommunication accounting is impossible to apply to the Internet because individual data packets may take different routes over separate networks as they travel to their final destination to be reassembled and delivered to the application. Where telephony relies on physical, point-to-point connection, and switch hierarchy, the Internet does not prescribe topology, but rather simply seeks to deliver data. In this highly distributed communications system, data is placed in packets with an IP destination address and an IP source address, much like the “TO” and “RETURN” addresses on a postal envelope. Each packet is then placed on the network where it is delivered to its destination. In the simplest case, a single network connects two computers. In more complex (and more common) cases routers and gateways establish the