Chapter1.What Are Multiservice Switching Networks?

Chapter 1. What Are Multiservice Switching Networks?

Suppose you needed one PC for each application you run on your computer: one computer for Web browsing, another for word processing, and so on. Or suppose a city had one set of roads and highways to be used by cars, a different set for trucks, and a third for motorcycles.

From economic and practical points of view, these setups don't seem like the best choices. Service providers and Enterprise customers need to consider the problems they face so that they don't end up with similar scenarios. They should ask why they need a dedicated network to provide voice services, a different infrastructure to carry IP traffic, and a third one to supply ATM virtual circuits. Why should anyone need to design and maintain a network of routers and a parallel ATM switch network? A multiservice switching network uses the same infrastructure to carry any type of traffic, regardless of whether it is encapsulated in IP, ATM, or Frame Relay.

A first approach to a definition of a multiservice switching network is a common transmission and switching infrastructure that can natively provide multiple services so that each service does not interfere with the others. Multiservice switches are therefore network elements that constitute the multiservice switching network and natively provide those different services.