Making the Packet Connection with TDM-over-IP: A Technology Primer
by Bruce Ernhofer
Zarlink Semiconductor
In the heady days of the telecom boom, hype led many to believe a full-scale network revolution was underway. The common wisdom of the time was that circuit switched infrastructure was going the way of the dinosaur, the forklifts were ready and running on the frontlines, and IP networks were on the rise.
A few years later, economic realities have driven the forklift back into the garage. The boom years' buzz has become a more realistic hum, and revolution has turned into a manageable network evolution.
While even the evolutionary pace has slowed from what was predicted post-telecom crash, carriers still face the same challenges when planning a migration from a circuit-based to packet switched network (PSN) infrastructure. Primarily, they need an efficient and cost-effective solution for transporting revenue-generating legacy services over the PSN.
One emerging solution is TDM-over-IP technology. In this first in a series of articles on TDM-over-IP, we will outline some of the economic and competitive issues pushing carriers towards network convergence, and the key technology choices available to them.
In later articles we will take an in-depth look at timing and synchronization issues over the PSN, and the TDM-over-IP work currently underway with the standards organizations. Applications abound for this technology, and several will be examined in detail.
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