Telecommunications
Essay Preview: Telecommunications
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Table of Content
Introduction
PBX and Centrex
Rotary and DTMF
WATS and Leased Lines
ISO and OSI
Conclusions
Reference List
Introduction
Networking and telephony is a part of our everyday environment, whether it be in our homes or in our place of business. We will somehow come into contact with one or the other in some shape or fashion. At Baker, we are no different from any other business. The infrastructure of Baker is not a simple pc and telephone setup. The network incorporates everything from a simple analog line to our data network backbone that is made of T-3 lines, ISND lines, and IPFR provided by the AT&T datacenter. Baker has 30 offices all over the country and a couple of offices in abroad in Europe. I will be discussing the setup of the Houston office, since I am most familiar with this office.
PBX and Centrex
The Houston office of Baker is comprised of three types of phones, well, at least until the company moves into one central location. Currently there are three offices in Houston that are all a block apart. The building that I support houses an old Merlin Legend telephone system. Its funny, because I have to set the date on the voicemail to the year 1999 so that when users check their messages, it will give the correct month and date. The system is comprised of about 100 direct-inward dialed (DIDs), some used as analog and some use as digital lines. The digital lines are ISDN lines that allow for digital transmission of voice and data over ordinary telephone copper wires. Direct-inward dialing routes calls from the outside lines to the PBX, which allows telephone systems to bypass an operator. The PBX then routes the call to the desired extension and if there is no answer, the call goes to the users voicemail. PBXs are used to route calls between people within an organization and it routes calls to users from the organization to people that are not connected to the internal system. Centrex systems do not require onsite switching equipment like the PBXs. They usually handle outgoing calls made from inside an organization without the use or intervention of an operator. In the case of my office, a trunk or outside path is grounded by the PBX or central office, which is why users have to dial an access code (a nine in our case) before they can make any outside calls. I am not sure, but I know we have over 10 trunks that go out from our office. “The difference between PBXs and Centrex is in the location and ownership of the equipment that routes calls. Private branch exchanges are located on customers premises. Centrex is usually located at the telephone company and is part of the central exchange or central
office” (Dodd, 1999, chp2).
Rotary and DTMF
Going a little further into our telephony phone system structure, Bakers telephones are all touch tone or tone dialing phones. Although the phones that are supplied to us have the ability to support pulse dialing for backward compatibility; I have not seen or know anyone that uses those features in todays business world. The old name for pulse phones were rotary phones, and the name for touch tone phones are dual tone multi-frequency phone, or DTMF. “Pulse dialing or loop disconnect dialing, also called Rotary or Decadic dialing in the United Kingdom, and is pulsing in which a direct-current pulse train is produced by interrupting a steady signal according to a fixed or formatted code for each digit and at a standard pulse repetition rate” (Wikipedia). When a number is dialed on a rotary phone, the phone generates pulses that are making and breaking of the telephone connection. When dialing a number the user hears rapid clicks which represent when numbers are dialed, except for 0, which has ten clicks. Rotary phones are still in use, I personally couldnt say where, but I know there out there. The successor of the rotary phone is the touch tone phone, which correctly is called the dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF). “DTMF has generally replace loop disconnect, pulse dialing. The DTMF is used for telephone signaling over the line in the voice frequency band to the call switching center. DTMF was developed to allow for long distance numbers to be dialed over signals” (Wikipedia) But as we see today, the “touch tone phone” is used on all new business implantations as well as in new home residences. Touch tone will still be used with the widespread usage of VoIP.
WATS and Leased Lines
The Baker offices are all spread out over the United States, with one in the UK and another in Alaska. To pull my office along with the other offices, Baker is setup through the AT&T datacenter via IPFRs (IP-Enabled Frame Relay). IPFR was designed by AT&T to offer companies that needed to expand site-to-site frame links at certain locations to support multipoint connections. The service still uses frame relay as the base technology, but runs a multi-protocol label switching IP-based VPN over top of the frame. This VPN connection allows for the Baker offices to have a greater level of security for data traveling across the network. The network backbone allows for Baker to have implemented VoIP into the current infrastructure. Since Voice over IP uses an internet protocol to transmit voice over data lines, it also cuts down on long distance cost for the company. With in the next couple of years, every Baker office will be using VoIP, which will be put as a standard at that time. With VoIP slowing coming onto the scene, Baker is using a leased line. A T-1 is a type of leased line that is always active; data is always moving to and from on the line. A leased line which is another form of long distance connections, allows for businesses to connect to distant offices for a small fee (well, probably not too small a fee). A leased line is always active and the carrier assures the line will produce great quality, since no one can use the line except for the company that wants to lease the line. The