AT&T Co has also introduced an Integrated Services Digital Network terminal adaptor to enable six asynchronous terminals or personal computers to share a single ISDN Basic Rate Interface line. The packet assemblerdisassembler is called Packit/6 ISDN PAD and is compatible with AT&T’s 5ESS digital telephone exchange. It eliminates the need for separate modems, accepting data input from up to six terminals. The Packit/6 PAD packets the data using the X25 protocol and then multiplexes the packets onto a 16Kbps Basic Rate Interface D-channel. The Packit/6 ISDN PAD supports the Hayes Smartmodem interface for application software such as call control. A separate console port is provided for administration and maintenance. Each terminal port operates at rates up to 19.2Kbps, new software can be downloaded from IBM-compatible personal computers through the console port. It will be available for shipment this month, at $2,000.
