ISDN primary rate access maintenance

A maintenance plan for integrated services digital network (ISDN) primary rate access (PRA) is described. The maintenance plan relies on an in-service performance monitoring approach for the digital transmission aspects of ISDN PRAs. The plan also includes testing to supplement in-service performance monitoring. The maintenance operations environment is first reviewed. Network element (NE), customer-premises-located network terminal (NT), and operations system (OS) capabilities are then identified to support in-service performance monitoring of digital transmission quality on ISDN PRAs. The strategy also uses out-of-service testing for trouble isolation and repair verification. Also discussed are the possible directions for extending the strategy after some experience is gained from initial primary access deployment.<>