ISDN protocol architecture

IT IS NOW widely recognized that the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) concept is providing a useful framework for the development of future telecommunications networks and services. An ISDN can be regarded as a generalpurpose digital network capable of supporting (or integrating) a wide range of services (voice and non-voice) using a small set of standard multipurpose user-network interfaces. Relevant CCITT Recommendations (or standards) on ISDN interfaces were expected to be available in 1984, the final year of the current study period. This paper reviews CCITT progress on the architectural studies of protocols associated with ISDN's, in particular, the ISDN Protocol Reference Model being developed by Study Group XVIII. This Model, based on the concepts and principles of the ISO/CCITT Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model, aims at providing a unified framework for modeling ISDN multiservice communications and capabilities. The new Model is applied to several possible ISDN communications configurations, enabling a number of technical issues to be easily identified.