Integrated Services

Digital N e t w o r k ( I S D N )
Contents
 Introduction
 What is ISDN?
 Advantages of
 ISDN
 ISDN Interfaces
ISDN Protocols
 Introduction
 The early phone network consisted of a pure analog
system that connected telephone users directly by
a mechanical interconnection of wires.
 This system was very inefficient, was very prone to
breakdown and noise, and did not lend itself easily to
long-distance connections.
 Beginning in the 1960s, the telephone system gradually
began converting its internal connections to a packet-
based, digital switching system.
Introduction cont’d…
 A standards movement was started by the
International Telephone and Telegraph Consultative
Committee (CCITT), now known as the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU).
 The ITU is a United Nations organization that
coordinates and standardizes international
telecommunications. Original recommendations of
ISDN were in CCITT Recommendation I.120 (1984)
which described some initial guidelines for
implementing ISDN.
What is ISDN?
 ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) is an all
digital communications line that allows for the
transmission of voice, data, video and graphics, at
very high speeds, over standard communication
lines.
 ISDN provides a single, common interface with
which to access digital communications services that
are required by varying devices, while remaining
transparent to the user.
ISDN cont’d…
 ISDN is not restricted to public telephone networks alone; it
may be transmitted via packet switched networks, telex, CATV
networks, etc.

Applications
ISDN cont’d...
 ISDN is a circuit-switched telephone network system,
which also provides access to packet switched
networks, designed to allow digital transmission of
voice and data over ordinary telephone copper wires
(Plain-Old Telephone Service - POTS ), resulting in
potentially better voice quality than an analog phone
can provide.
 It offers circuit-switched connections (for either voice
or data), and packet-switched connections (for
data), in increments of 64 kilobit/s.
ISDN cont’d…
 With ISDN, voice and data are carried by bearer
channels (B channels) occupying a bandwidth of 64
kb/s. Some switches limit B channels to a capacity of
56 kb/s.
 A data channel (D channel) handles signalling at 16
kb/s or 64 kb/s, depending on the service type.
 Advantages of ISDN
 Speed
• BRI ISDN, supports an uncompressed data transfer
speed of 128 kb/s, plus bandwidth for overhead and
signalling. PRI transfers at an even higher speed of up
to 1920 kb/s.
Multiple Devices

• ISDN allows multiple devices to share a single line. It is
possible to combine many different digital data sources
and have the information routed to the proper destination.
Advantages cont’d..
 Signalling/fast call setup
• Instead of the phone company sending a ring voltage
signal to ring the bell in your phone ("In-Band signal"),
it sends a digital packet on a separate channel ("Out-
of-Band signal").
• The Out-of-Band signal does not disturb established
connections, no bandwidth is taken from the data
channels, and call setup time is very fast.
Interfaces
 There are several kinds of access interfaces to ISDN
defined as Basic Rate Interface (BRI), Primary Rate
Interface (PRI) and Broadband ISDN (B-ISDN).
 BRI consists of two 64 kb/s B channels and one 16
kb/s D channel for a total of 144 kb/s.
 PRI is intended for users with greater capacity
requirements.
 B-ISDN is a complete redesign. The copper wire in
Narrowband ISDN is replaced with fiber.
ISDN Protocols
 The ISDN is illustrated here in relation to the
OSI model: