Chapter 5

Introduction to
Telecommunications

Applications of Telecommunications

OBrien 121

Business
Telecommunications
Telecommunications
Architectures
Electronic communications system

Electronic mail
Voice mail
Bulletin Board systems
Videotex
Fascimile
Public Information Service

Electronic meeting
systems
Desktop Video
conferencing
Decision room
conferencing
Computer
conferencing
Teleconferencing

Centralized
Distributed
Client/server
Interorganizational
Global

Business process
systems
Online transaction
processing
Inquiry/Response
EDI / XML
Electronic Funds Transfer
Activity monitoring
Process control
Telecommuting

Trends

OBrien 122 - 124

Industry trends
Towards a greater number of competitive vendors, carriers, alliances
and telecommunications network services.

Technology trends
Towards open and interconnected local and global digital networks for voice,
data and video, using high-speed fiber-optics and satellites.

Application Trends
Towards a pervasive use of the internet and enterprise and interorganizational
intranets, to support collaborative computing, online business operations and
strategic advantage in local and global markets.

Technological Developments
General trend: Connect everybody to everybody else.
Internet-network technologies
thousands new hardware- and software products
web-browsers, HTML- editors, firewalls

Open systems: based on standards

connectivity of systems: middleware
OSI, TCP/IP

Digital technologies
higher transmission speed
larger information streams
more efficient transmission method
less errors

text: OBrien : p. 168

Internet Revolution

Explosive growth
Terminology
WWW:

E-mail:
Usenet:
IRC:
FTP:
Telnet:
Other:

text: OBrien : p. 172

inquiry sources of information via

graphical browser software
electronic mail
place messages on bulletin board
real time dialogs
file transfer
login on other systems
telephone, video conferencing, ...

Telecommunication model

OBrien 125

Terminals
terminal, office equipment , telephones , ...

Telecommunications processors
modems, multiplexers, front-end processors, ...

Telecommunications channels and media

copper wires, coaxial cables, fiber optic cables, satellites, ...

Computers
host computers, front-end computers, network servers, ...

Telecommunications control software

telecommunication monitors, network operating systems, ...

Middleware

Interactive usage
Interactive usage :

- increases considerably the productivity

- requires communication networks

Required transmission capacity depends on the application

and on the user interface :
- administrative input

<1000 char/sec

- CAD/CAM millions char/sec

Physical location often crucial factor to decide on the

type of connection between the computer and the
workstation

Standardization is an absolute must in this respect

Telecommunication Components

OBrien 126

5 components

Telecom
Channels and Media
Telecommunications
software
Telecom
processors
End-user
workstation

Telecom
processors
Computers

LAN
PC-workstation

PC-workstation

OBrien 127 - 128

PC-workstation
Databases and
Software packages

Shared hard disk

Network
Server
Shared
printer
PC-workstation

PC-workstation

PC-workstation
Port to
other networks

WAN - Internetwork
LANs

Mainframe,
hosts

network
in US
network
in Europe

LANs

Tymnet

Internet

network
in Australia

Cisco corporation network

Client/server network
Company A
Internet

Router

Intranet

Firewall

Firewall
Router

Company B

text: OBrien p 178

Intranet
Mainframe host system

Client - Server
Clients

DB.
server

Print
server

CAD
server

comm.
server

Clients

DB.
server

O.A.
server

comm.
server

The Internetwork-enterprise
The Internet
Intranets
Extranets

Enterprise

Intranets

Intranets

Supplier

Client

Intranets

Electronic Commerce
Other Organizations
text: OBrien p 180

Media and Channels

Signals
analog
digital

Cables
Twisted-pair
Coaxial cable

Medium
Metal wire
Microwave
Fiber optics

interference
20x more expensive

Transmission speed
.0012Mbps - 10 Mbps
.256 Mbps - 100Mbps
.5Mbps - 1,000Mbps

5.500 simultaneous phone calls

Fiber-optic
1 fiber 30.000 phone calls

Wireless
microwave
satellites

Radio, Infrared, Cellular Radio, Mobile computing

GPS global positioning system

text: OBrien p183 - 186

Communication hardware

Modems 9.600 14.400 28.800 bps

Transmission mode
Simplex
Half-duplex
Full duplex

1 circuit , 1 direction
1 circuit, 2 directions, difficult co-ordination
2 circuits, 2 directions

Transmission accurateness
parity bits forward and backward error correction

Processors
multiplexers frequency, time or statistic time distribution
front-end processors to handle routine communication tasks
with peripheral equipment
text: OBrien p 187 - 189

Network Topology

Star
all communications go via the central system

Bus
can easily be extended at the ends

Ring
more secure

Star network

OBrien 147 - 148

With direct
connections

Point-to-point lines

- Efficient , also for high speeds

- With a large number of workstations cabling might be a problem

Star network (multiplexed)

Access via
multiplexed
lines
eventually rented

- local speed up to 2000 char/sec , 1M char/sec very expensive

- internationally 1000 char/sec commonly available

Bus network
Shared usage of a
broadband network

Multidrop lines

- more complex hardware

- simpler cabling system
OBrien 191

Ring Networks

Ring Network

- more equal basis

OBrien 147

Public data networks

PAD =
Packet Assembler
and Disassembler

Data Network

PAD
E.g..: DCS 1000 - 6000 char/sec , cost / volume data ( X25 )
Due to high connection cost ($ 30.000 year) usage of PAD

ISDN

ISDN
Integrated services
Digital network

ISDN

- universal network for telephone and data

- > 6000 char/sec

Open systems
Definition: An open system is a system where the design has not
been made by a supplier but by an accredited
standardization organization (eg:ISO , IEEE , ANSI ,
CODASYL , ... )

This provides the user a better independence from a

specific hardware or software supplier and therefore a
better guarantee for his investments.
It allows the user to make always the most appropriate
and optimal choice for each of the sub-systems .
Open systems are not yet sufficiently available on the
market.
The best examples are UNIX and the OSI network
model

The OSI model

Defined by ISO ( International Standard Organization ).
OSI ( Open System Interconnect ) describes a framework to
subdivide connection problems in networks into almost
independent sub-problems .

e.g.:

president x

diplomatic
rules

president y

interpreter x

common
language

interpreter y

cryptography

common
key

cryptography

operator

common
channel

operator

physical link

The TCP/IP and the 7 layer OSI

model
TCP/IP

OSI
Application layer

Application- or
process layer

Presentation layer
Session layer

Host-to-host
transport layer
Internet-protocol
IP
network-interface
Physical layer

OBrien 193

Transport layer
Network layer
data link
Physical layer

Communication services
for end users
Correct formatting
and coding
Support for session
initiation
Data transfers between
nodes
routing of
connections
Support for error-free
data transfer
physical access to
communication media

OSI 7-Layer Model

OBrien 150

7. Application (user application program)

6. Presentation (user interface / screen display )
5. Session ( exchange between two nodes on the network )
4. Transport ( protocol for encoding messages )
3. Network ( mechanism for separating multiple messages )
2. Link ( data encoding schemes )
1. Physical ( wires, connectors , voltage )