| Acknowledgments | |
| Foreword | |
| Preface | |
| Introduction | |
| Beginnings: What Do We Know? | |
| So, Why Did the Crash Occur? | |
| Evolution | |
| Aftermath | |
| The Pivot Point: Customer Value and How to Measure It | |
| So, What''s the Answer? | |
| The Technologies | |
| Introduction | |
| The Internet''s Influence Is Far from Over | |
| The Software Industry Will Take on a More Critical Role as the Players Evolve | |
| Optical Technology Will Be the Next Big Techno-hero--Again | |
| The Functional Migration from the Core of the Network to the Edge is Underway | |
| In Spite of the Hype, 3G Wireless Doesn''t Cut It | |
| Mobile Appliances Will Become a Significant Marketplace | |
| The Computer and Pheripheral Device Industry Segment Will Evolve in Strange and Wonderful Ways | |
| The Metro Environment Will Become a Powerful Marketplace in the Next Three to Five Years | |
| The Semiconductor Industry''s Influence Will Grow Substantially and Products Will Become More Application Specific | |
| Network Management (NM) Will Take on an Increasingly Important Role | |
| Convergence: the Technologies | |
| Access Technologies | |
| Traditional Access Technologies | |
| Marketplace Realities | |
| 56-Kbps Modems | |
| Just Out: V.92 | |
| ISDN | |
| The Technology | |
| The Basic Rate Interface (BRI) | |
| AO/DI | |
| The Primary Rate Interface (PRI) | |
| PBX Applications | |
| Videoconferencing | |
| Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) | |
| In Support of the Remote Agent | |
| T-Carrier and Voice Digitization | |
| The Nature of Voice | |
| Voice Digitization | |
| Alternative Digitization Techniques | |
| Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation (ADPCM) | |
| Continuously Variable Slope Delta (CVSD) | |
| Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) | |
| Digital Speech Interpolation (DSI) | |
| Framing and Formatting in T-1 | |
| Cable-Based Access Technologies | |
| The Broadband Balkans | |
| The Cable Network | |
| Next-Generation Cable Systems | |
| Hybrid Fiber Coax Systems (HFC) | |
| Cable Modems | |
| Data over Cable Standards | |
| Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) | |
| ADSL Modulation Techniques | |
| Crosstalk Issues | |
| DMT | |
| CAP | |
| DSL Services | |
| ADSL | |
| A Word About the DSLAM | |
| High Bit Rate Digital Subscriber Line (HDSL) | |
| G-Lite | |
| SHDSL | |
| DSL Market Issues | |
| Provider Challenges | |
| Solutions | |
| Preventative Network Architecture Issues | |
| Loop Length | |
| Crosstalk and Background Noise | |
| Down the Road | |
| DSL Summary | |
| Wireless Access Technologies | |
| The Special Case of Premises Access | |
| Contention-based LANs | |
| Distributed Polling LANs | |
| Wireless Ethernet: 802.11 The Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HomePNA) | |
| Bluetooth | |
| WAP | |
| The Mobile Appliance | |
| Access Technologies Summary | |
| Transport Technologies | |
| Clouds | |
| The Evolution of Transport | |
| Point-to-Point Architectures | |
| High-Bandwidth Wireless Services | |
| High-Bandwidth Wired Services | |
| Optical Systems | |
| Optical Fiber Types | |
| SONET | |
| Other SONET Advantages | |
| SONET Architectures | |
| WDM | |
| How it Works | |
| Fiber Transmission Issues and Concerns | |
| A Word About Optical Switching | |
| Other Switching Solutions | |
| SONET versus DWDM: A Technology Battle | |
| Point-to-Point Technologies Summary | |
| Switched Technologies | |
| Circuit Switching | |
| Packet Switching | |
| Connectionless Packet-Switched Service | |
| Connecition-Oriented Packet-Switched Service | |
| Fast Packet Services | |
| Frame Relay | |
| Service Granularity in Frame Relay | |
| Congestion Control in Frame Relay | |
| Frame Relay Summary | |
| ATM | |
| So: Why ATM? | |
| The ATM Market | |
| Alternatives to ATM | |
| ATM Summary | |
| IP | |
| Why IP? | |
| Making it Happen | |
| IP/ATM Integration | |
| Summary | |
| Company Convergence | |
| The Players in the Game Will Continue to Evolve | |
| A New Regulatory Environment is Needed and Will Be Created | |
| Solutions | |
| E-Commerce and E-Business Will Strengthen and Mature | |
| E-Commerce | |
| Why E-Commerce? | |
| From E-Commerce to E-Business | |
| Corporate Evolution | |
| The Importance of Corporate Knowledge | |
| Data Mining | |
| An Aside: The SLA | |
| Supply-Chain Issues | |
| ERP in the Telecomm Space | |
| Customer Relationship Management (CRM) | |
| Putting It All Together | |
| The Birth of the Virtual Community | |
| Company Classifications | |
| The ILECs | |
| The CLECs | |
| The IECs | |
| The ISPs and Portals | |
| The Application Service Providers (ASPs) | |
| The Managed Service Providers (MSPs) | |
| The Cable Providers | |
| The Equipment Manufacturers | |
| Everybody Else | |
| And the Point Is...? | |
| Company Convergence: Lucent Technologies | |
| Company Convergence: Cisco | |
| Company Convergence: AOL | |
| The Special Case of the ILECs | |
| The Missing Link | |
| The Virtual Corporation: Supporting Technologies | |
| Enabling the Virtual Private Network (VPN) | |
| The Evolving Computer | |
| Storage Area Networks (SANs) | |
| The Need for Mobility | |
| Thinning the Computer Herd | |
| Summary | |
| Services Convergence | |
| Services Convergence | |
| The Services | |
| Viewing the Network: Inside Out or Outside In? | |
| The Evolution of IP Telephony | |
| Emerging QoS Protocols | |
| Service and Protocol Interoperability | |
| Signaling in VoIP Environments | |
| IP Telephony Summary | |
| VoIP Implementation Summary | |
| Network Management for QoS | |
| Implementing IP Services | |
| Carrier-Class IP Voice | |
| Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs) and Private Corporate Gateways | |
| Clearinghouse Services | |
| IP-Enabled Call Centers | |
| Integrating the PBX | |
| Billing as a Critical Service | |
| Summary | |
| Redefining the Service Provider | |
| Beginnings | |
| Moving Forward | |
| Conclusion | |
| Common Industry Acronyms | |
| Index | |
| Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved. |
