Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network A broad overview on the Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (B-ISDN) is here given. The key issues of the communication environment are first outlined (Section ). Then the main steps leading to the evolution to the B-ISDN are described (Section ), by also discussing issues related to the transfer mode and to the congestion control of the B-ISDN (Section ). | Switching Theory Architecture and Performance in Broadband ATM Networks Achille Pattavina Copyright 1998 John Wiley Sons Ltd ISBNs 0-471-96338-0 Hardback 0-470-84191-5 Electronic Chapter 1 Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network A broad overview on the Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network B-ISDN is here given. The key issues of the communication environment are first outlined Section . Then the main steps leading to the evolution to the B-ISDN are described Section by also discussing issues related to the transfer mode and to the congestion control of the B-ISDN Section . The main features of the B-ISDN in terms of transmission systems that are based on the SDH standard Section and of communication protocols that are based on the ATM standard Section are also presented. . Current Networking Scenario The key features of the current communication environment are now briefly discussed namely the characterization of the communication services to be provided as well as the features and properties of the underlying communication network that is supposed to support the previous services. . Communication services The key parameters of a telecommunication service cannot be easily identified owing to the very different nature of the various services that can be envisioned. The reason is the rapidly changing technological environment taking place in the eighties. In fact a person living in the sixties who faced the only provision of the basic telephone service and the first low-speed data services could rather easily classify the basic parameters of these two services. The tremendous push in the potential provision of telecommunication services enabled by the current networking capability makes such classification harder year after year. In fact not only are new services being thought and network-engineered in a span of a few years but also the tremendous 2 Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network progress in VLSI technology .
