NETWORKS & OPERATORS
Networks: The Hype
If I were to pick out three network
Each time there is a new iteration of technology there follows an introduction of new players in the market with
new and different ways of doing things. Some will just speed up existing applications whilst other technology
leaps will bring with them new, unknown as yet, applications
technologies or changes to technologies
that are set to alter the way we do
things they would be, the shift from
ISDN to IP based voice networks, the as
yet unrealised potential of software dened
networks and the roll out of 5G networks.
e hype cycles for each are a good place
to start and the obvious place to begin
is with ISDN as it is the oldest existing
technology of the three in terms of its
longevity.
e original idea for ISDN, the
integrated services digital network, was
to replace the old analogue pre-1980s
trunk lines with a service that could
simultaneously carry voice and data with
the premise being that business users would
only need one network and not the separate
voice and data networks being used at that
time.
ISDN was an epic fail almost from the
get-go. Whilst equipment vendors were
struggling to get their applications kit
through the Byzantine approval regimes of
every telco on the planet the data world had
the audacity to come along with broadband
and the ability to run voice over IP. Not
only that, the 64k data speed that ISDN
oered was totally eclipsed by even the
modest 256/512k of the early broadband
circuits.
You would think it was all over for
ISDN, and for any kind of data application,
it was indeed game set and match to
broadband. Except… the PBX vendors
of the time quickly latched on to the fact
that ISDN had one workable feature – it
displayed calling line identity (CLI).
So, for twenty odd years CLI began
the integration of the voice and data
market with its clumsy and expensive CTI
(computer telephony integration) apps
that begat, even more clumsily, unied
messaging – the precursor to unied
communications.
In parallel of course IP networks had
begun their world domination through
their total domination of the networking
protocol – there are people that don’t even
know there were re-cursors with healthy
market shares once upon a time.
At this point the cloud emerged as a
dominant force in business application
deployment and the death knell rang not
only for ISDN but a big slice of all the kit
that connected to it, for example the PBX.
It was only a matter of time before the
burial date for ISDN was announced and in
the UK this is set for 2025.
Right now, there are forces at work
doubling down on organisations that could
only be described as the laggards of their
day in eorts to persuade then to switch to
VoIP or take a cloud or hosted telephony
oering. is activity will go up to the wire
and possibly beyond if the regulator caves
and allows an extension – highly likely in
my opinion.
SD-WAN
While the hype for ISDN disappeared
over the horizon 30 years ago, the hype
surrounding software dened wide area
networks (SD-WAN) is much more current.
Compared to current and expensive
MPLS technology, SD-WANs were
proclaimed to be cheaper and provide the
kind of exibility and responsiveness IT
managers and business needed. SD-WANs
were meant to be the magic bullet to deliver
new network nodes instantly and the ability
to ex bandwidth up or down by way of
a mythical volume knob type of control
mechanism.
If this is a myth, then what are the real
benets?
e rst point we would like to make
is that there are no o the shelf solutions.
56 | Channel Profiles 2019 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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