ISDN deployment-planning and building a corporate network

The authors discuss the process a customer, AT&T Bell Laboratories, went through to determine their integrated services digital network (ISDN) requirements and implementation strategy. This information was derived from work required to plan the installation and service of over 10000, ISDN Centrex lines provided to AT&T Bell Laboratories. Planning for this network, one of the largest to fully utilize ISDN, involved a team of Bell Laboratories engineers with representatives from several areas (e.g., systems engineering, software development, and telecommunications). This team, by utilizing traditional tools and developing new and innovative techniques, determined end-user requirements for both voice and data. ISDN services in the United States in general are also discussed.<>