Chapter 5

Introduction to
Telecommunications
 Applications of Telecommunications
O’Brien 121

Business
Telecommunications • Centralized
• Distributed
• Client/server
Telecommunications • Interorganizational
Architectures • Global

Electronic commu- Electronic meeting Business process

nications system systems systems

• Electronic mail • Desktop Video • Online transaction

• Voice mail conferencing processing
• Bulletin Board systems • Decision room • Inquiry/Response
• Videotex conferencing • EDI / XML
• Fascimile • Computer • Electronic Funds Transfer
• Public Information Service conferencing • Activity monitoring
• Teleconferencing • Process control
• Telecommuting
 Trends O’Brien 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: O’Brien : p. 168

 Internet Revolution
 Explosive growth
 Terminology
 WWW: inquiry sources of information via
graphical browser software
 E-mail: electronic mail
 Usenet: place messages on bulletin board
 IRC: real time dialogs
 FTP: file transfer
 Telnet: login on other systems
 Other: telephone, video conferencing, ...

text: O’Brien : p. 172

 Telecommunication model O’Brien 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
O’Brien 126

5 components

Telecom
Channels and Media
Telecommunications
software
Telecom Telecom
processors processors
End-user
workstation Computers
 LAN O’Brien 127 - 128
PC-workstation PC-workstation 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

LAN’s Mainframe,
hosts

network
in US
network
in Europe

LAN’s

Internet
Tymnet

network
in Australia
Cisco corporation network
 Client/server network
Company A
Internet
Router
Firewall
Intranet

Firewall

Router

Company B
Intranet

text: O’Brien p 178 Mainframe host system

 Client - Server

Clients

DB. Print CAD comm.

server server server server

Clients

DB. O.A. comm.

server server server
 The Internetwork-enterprise

The Internet

Intranets
Extranets
Enterprise

Intranets Intranets

Client Supplier

Intranets
Electronic Commerce
Other Organizations
text: O’Brien p 180
 Media and Channels
 Signals
Medium Transmission speed
 analog
Metal wire .0012Mbps - 10 Mbps
 digital Microwave .256 Mbps - 100Mbps
 Cables Fiber optics .5Mbps - 1,000Mbps
 Twisted-pair interference
 Coaxial cable 20x more expensive
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: O’Brien p183 - 186

 Communication hardware
 Modems 9.600 14.400 28.800 bps
 Transmission mode
Simplex 1 circuit , 1 direction
Half-duplex 1 circuit, 2 directions, difficult co-ordination
 Full duplex 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: O’Brien 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 O’Brien 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
O’Brien 191
 Ring Networks O’Brien 147

Ring Network

- more equal basis

 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 ISDN
Integrated services
Digital network

- 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 .

president x diplomatic president y

e.g.:
rules
common
interpreter x interpreter y
language

common
cryptography cryptography
key

common
operator operator
channel

physical link
 The TCP/IP and the 7 layer OSI model

TCP/IP OSI

Communication services
Application layer for end users
Application- or Correct formatting
Presentation layer
process layer and coding
Support for session
Session layer
initiation
Host-to-host Data transfers between
transport layer Transport layer nodes
Internet-protocol routing of
IP Network layer connections
Support for error-free
network-interface data link
data transfer

Physical layer Physical layer physical access to

communication media

O’Brien 193
 OSI 7-Layer Model O’Brien 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 )