This text presents a detailed outline of ISDN, reflecting recent advances in the telecommunications industry due to digital technology. Describes the design, application, and operation of an integrated network carrying and switching voice, data, text, and facsimile services. Treatment is practical, not theoretical, drawing on experience gained from actual applications of ISDN. Explains the state of the art, the network development most suited to ISDN, national and international standard agreements necessary to make ISDN possible on a large scale, and what the future holds for integrated networks.

Trusted telecommunications expert Uyless Black has put together a complete yet accessible guide to the basics of narrowband signaling and the specifications for ISDN and SS7. He also discusses the potential applications of the protocol, including video conferencing, Internet access, and mobile and wireless 800 service.

An introduction to "ISDN" which brings the technology up-to-date, incorporating developments in "ATM", "SDH" and Broadband "ISDN". This book is suitable for self-learning communications professionals and applied courses in communications management and technology, and advanced undergraduates and graduates in computing and electronics.

Completely updated, revised, and expanded, this second edition includes the most up-to-date treatment of broadband ISDN. The new edition also features many examples, more than 100 clear illustrations, an updated list of acronyms and abbreviations, and a complete glossary for easy reference.

The present state of development of communication technology is characterized by two features, namely the digital representation of all signals transrnitted and processed, irrespective of information type - voice, text, data or images - and the integration of systems and services, this integration only being completely possible using digital technology. The boundaries between switching and transmission are shifting, and functions are being redefined and redistributed between terminals and communication networks. Multiservice terminals - unlike telephones, teleprinters, video data terminals - are designed to handle more than one information type. Lastly, the communication network allows voice, text, data and video information to be transmitted on the same circuit; the user obtains access to this network via a non dedicated "communication socket". The essential features of this Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) have been standardized over the last eight years by experts from all over the world under the aegis of the CCITT 1), the international standardizing body of the carriers of public communication networks. All the leading network carriers are working towards ISDN implementation because of the substantial benefits it will offer to users, network carriers and manufacturers alike: Users will obtain additional and advanced services, most of them designated to cater for the growth in non-voice traffic. The ISDN subscriber access will also enable users to operate existing systems more cost-effectively than via various dedicated networks.