In a move that should help deployment of the new technology, Bell Communications Research Inc, the research arm of the seven Baby Bells, has issued three technical advisory specifications that outline the preliminary requirements for a public Asynchronous Transfer Mode network. Bellcore Advisories outline generic requirements so that equipment can be compatible with the operations environments of Bellcore’s clients. As such, they give manufacturers the first solid goal to work towards. The documents are out for comment and once the industry has discussed them, Bellcore will issue firmer ‘Technical References’ next year. In the meantime the three advisories are: TA-NWT-001110 – ‘Broadband Switching System Generic Criteria’ which focuses on telecommunications switching system capabilities required, including user and network interfaces, internetworking, services supported, operations functions, usage parameter control, and performance. The TA-NWT-001112 ‘Broadband ISDN Physical Interface Specification’ looks at the B-ISDN User to Network Interface and the Network to Network Interface. TA-NWT-001113 – ‘Broadband ISDN Transfer Protocol Generic Criteria’ concerns itself with how information is carried throughout a B-ISDN network, focussing on the services and functions to be provided by each layer of the protocol, and how they interact.
