SDH in the access network: Italy's approach to network and management issues

This paper addresses Italys approach to the issue of telecommunications services provisioning in the flexible network environment that will be implemented with the introduction and full exploitation of SDH equipments. In particular it is focused on the impact that such SDH technology will have on the access network, in terms of increased flexibility for the fast and effective provision of services to the customer and increased reliability of the access network itself for the protection of customer traffic. In addition, the paper outlines the management requirements of such SDH environment, presenting the architecture of management systems specified for the efficient use of the available capacity and flexibility.