Untitled

select a product marketed over TV, to infl uence the ending of a movie, or to
change the camera angle to view a football play from a different perspective.
Conventional broadcast TV exemplifi es a service requiring no presentation
control.
10.5.4 B-ISDN Equipment
B - ISDN user equipment is an extension of that described for N - ISDN. Broadband
Terminal Equipment 1 (B - TE1) is defi ned as B - ISDN - compatible CPE. While the
exact nature of the B - TE1 remains undetermined, it is likely that it will take the
form of ATM - compatible B - ISDN communications servers. Those servers will
combine the functions of a PBX, data switch, and video switch. At the extreme, they
will take the form of ATM - based multimedia communications servers.
Broadband Terminal Equipment Type 2 (B - TE2) is defi ned as terminal equipment
that supports a broadband interface other than B - ISDN. Terminal Equipment
Type 2 (TE2) continues to be defi ned as terminal equipment that supports an interface
other than ISDN. Both B - TE2 and TE2 equipment will interface with the
network through a Broadband Terminal Adapter (B - TA). All of this may well be
moot now, as IP seems to have relegated B - ISDN to an historical pipe dream.
10.5.5 B-ISDN Attributes and Issues
N - ISDN was intended to be available universally. This did not happen, of course, as
many nations and regions did not see the value in upgrading the infrastructure to
support it. B - ISDN seems headed for the same fate, although for a different reason.
There certainly has been no lack of interest in and commitment to the underlying
technologies but, over time, the low cost and inherent simplicity of other technologies
seem to have rudely shoved them aside. ATM is on the decline, at least in the backbone,
in favor of a combination of IP and MPLS. Ethernet is gaining ground over
ATM in PON local loops and in the MAN. SS7 is on the decline in favor of SIP.
There is no question that B - ISDN has a lot of potential, but as a famous author
(that would be me) once said, “ Potential means you haven ’ t done anything yet. ”
That statement is perhaps a bit harsh when it comes to B - ISDN, as all of the underlying
technologies and standards were in place and made considerable impact on
telecommunications. It is highly unlikely, however, that B - ISDN will ever be fully
specifi ed, much less that it will ever take full form as the ubiquitous integrated
network solution, end to end.
10.6 ADVANCED INTELLIGENT NETWORKS (AINs)
ADVANCED INTELLIGENT NETWORKS (AINs) 541
Once upon a time, the networks were truly dumb . Through the 1960s and even into
the 1970s, they remained fairly dumb. In other words, the networks were composed
largely of switches and pipes that could do little more than connect calls as directed
based on a hierarchical order of limited switching intelligence. That intelligence was
in the form of very limited programmed logic housed in databases that interacted
at a minimal level. Each switch performed its own job, with little thought of the
network as a whole.