Northern Telecom demonstrates S/DMS TransportNode Synchronous Optical Network kit…

Northern Telecom Ltd has been demonstrating the S/DMS TransportNode, the first of its open networks standards-based Synchronous Optical Network SONET products announced last October and designed for the seamless integration of fibre throughout the entire communications network. S/DMS TransportNode offers 2.488Gbps inter-exchange and local transport and provides management of the high capacity SONET bandwidth. Once installed, S/DMS will support transmission of 450,000 simultaneous telephone conversations on one fibre, with a single fibre pair survivable ring configuration for long distance, local and metropolitan area networks. It will also support systems delivering 4.976Gbps capacity using optical multiplexing. The demonstration showed S/DMS TransportNode transporting full-motion, full-colour digital video over fibre optic cable with the DV-45 Digital Video Codec, another new Northern Telecom product. MCI Communcations Corp will be the first to test S/DMS TransportNode at OC-12, an Optical Carrier rate of 622Mbps, to carry high-volume data between its Reston and Pentagon City, Virginia, computer centres. MCI has also announced plans to use SONET in its network, and Bell Atlantic Corp, Contel and United Telephone have also committed to first application testing in 1990.

adds Dialan Plus local network…

Dialan Plus, a local area network-based service for the DMS-100 and DMS SuperNode has been designed to improve an end user’s host computer efficiency and information security and so save telephone operators money by simplifying maintenance and provisioning procedures. The Dialan Plus features were jointly developed by Northern Telecom, integrated voice data module vendors and telephone companies. The development of a direct RS422 interface on integrated voice and data modules is intended to eliminate the need for expensive converter cables and patch panels between data module vendors and the main distribution frame located in the switch. Northern also claims the RS422 interface reduces usage costs and simplifies the installation procedure and training requirements because Dialan lines and voice lines are now provisioned identically, while all testing and diagnostics can be performed from one terminal. Dialan Plus also enables the switching system to drop a connection automatically if no data is sent after a time period specified by the user for each digital line – without this feature, idle lines can be tied up indefinitely because network operators cannot detect modem traffic. Closed User Groups restrict access into or out of a customer-defined user group: within the DMS system each line is assigned a unique identifier and a list of other identifiers to which that line is permitted to connect; the DMS-100 determines whether the User Group identifier of the originator and destination are compatible before completing the call. Dialan Plus will be available from telephone companies under various marketing names; integrated voice data modules, available from a number of vendors, connect the computer to a telephone jack for digital, 19.2Kbps transmission via the telephone network. Dialan Plus also supports simultaneous voice conversation over the same pair of wires using existing telephone handsets.

adds enhanced Caller ID features…

Paying little heed to the continuing controversy surrounding caller identification, a telephony feature that displays the number of the caller to the party called – and which, according to some, is an erosion of privacy – Northern Telecom Ltd has come up with an add-on unit for use with standard telephones that allows Caller ID information to be viewed and used more effectively. The Lumina 100, part of Northern Telecom’s Custom Local Area Signalling Services (CI No 1,347), can store up to 14 different calling numbers along with the date and time of each call, displaying whether the call is new or repeated, whether the call comes from an area not equipped for calling number delivery, and whether the call

information has previously been displayed during a review of the caller’s list; the caller information is displayed between the first and second rings. For those living in the six states served by Bell Atlantic – the only network operator so far to support Caller ID – the suggested list price for the Lumina 100 system is $69.

offers operators free ISDN upgrade…

To help its telephone operating company customers offer integrated services digital network services, Northern Telecom has announced a free switch upgrade programme that establishes standard ISDN Basic Rate service from its DMS-100 and DMS SuperNode central exchange switching systems. The programme calls for Northern Telecom to replace, at no charge, all non-standard AMI Alternate Mark Invers-ion equipment with equipment that conforms to the industry-standard for basic rate ISDN. The company will also provide full credit for inventories of Northern Telecom NT1s Network Termination devices and line cards, and all ISDN switches that have shipped by January 1 1991 are covered by the offer. Northern Telecom claims that by upgrading DMS-100s and DMS SuperNodes to the standard basic rate ISDN 2B1Q standard, telephone company customers will be able to buy any U-interface ISDN terminal, including Northern Telecom’s NT1, without fear of obsolescence due to future standards incompatibility.

and adds Centrex support to Norstar

Northern has also introduced Meridian Norstar Centrex, a software enhancement to the digital key telephone system that gives Norstar users one-button access to such Centrex features as call forwarding, call pick-up, call waiting, re-dial, three-way conferencing, and a liquid crystal display instruction panel. Norstar Centrex also has an extension key combining line and intercom key functions, so that users can dial internal or external calls transparently. Industry standard telephones, like 1A2 and single-line sets, can be monitored for busy, ring, and idle status from a Norstar telephone running the Norstar Centrex software. Norstar Centrex is available on the modular version of Meridian Norstar, the small business telephone system introduced by the Canadian manufacturer in March 1988. – Mark John