bill@apple.com (Bill Cerny) (08/16/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0297m06@vector.dallas.tx.us>, eli@chipcom.com writes: > He also commented about ISDN and how US Sprint is ready for ISDN, > whereas ATT is behind, and MCI is way behind. Sprint already has > CCS7 (switching something-or-other), a fiber network, and 100% digital > transmission. ATT is accelerating the depreciation of their equipment > because they have to modernize their network in order to support ISDN, > and to keep up with the competition -- in this case, US Sprint. AT&T has been providing true ISDN via its Primary Rate Interface for over a year now. AT&T is providing new calling services made possible with ISDN, including call-by-call service selection and calling number delivery. A recently announced service will allow enhanced routing capability on an electronic tandem network (Service Node Controller). AT&T will complete the installation of CCS7 in its network by the end of this year; all major routes have been CCS7 since earlier this year. SouthernNet was the first carrier to install a 100% CCS7 network, followed by US Sprint in Dec. '88, and MCI this past spring. The US Sprint network uses 41 Northern Telecom DMS-250 tandem switches. The MCI network has a mix of DSC, Northern Telecom and Ericsson AXE tandems. Sprint plans to offer real ISDN (like AT&T did) next year _from all of its POPs_, while AT&T provides ISDN from a steadily growing number of its POPs. MCI plans to offer _ISDN-like_ services (read "inband" signaling vice the Q.931 outband signaling of ISDN) in the fourth quarter of this year, to be followed by real ISDN next year. Consider the degree of difficulty in getting ISDN up and flying on your network: it's more likely to work if you have fewer brands of switches to talk to each other (standards? yes, but... 8-) 8-) ). There are three vendors with working ISDN CPE in this field today: AT&T (System 85), Northern Telecom (SL-1) and Rockwell (Galaxy ACD). Many vendors have announced ISDN CPE this year. The CPE to work with MCI's ISDN-like services is under development. Too much ISDN hype, eh? Today's ISDN users aren't talking; there is a perceived advantage that they must obscure from their competitors. But in one published report, a telemarketing firm found that calling number delivery trimmed an average of 8 seconds off each call (the customer's record was automatically retrieved according to phone number). If you carry this calculation forward, a center that handles 2,000 calls/day saves about 4.5 hours. It's up the sweatshop owner to decide whether to reduce the number of agents, provide longer breaks to the agents, or go after more business. (These facts extracted from trade press, announcements, and industry contacts. Please e-mail corrections. Thanks!) -- Bill Cerny bill@toto.uucp "I'm gone to San Diego in my mind."