Communications is a very broad subject. At one time, a distinction might have been made between computer communications (data networking) and telecommunications (public voice networking). However these two domains are rapidly converging, with the same network technologies being used to support data, voice, video, and other media.
Communications services provide useful facilities to end-users. Services therefore take a user-oriented rather than network-oriented view. Services are the financial basis of communications since they are directly responsible for operator revenues. The major developments in communications technology during the past decade have been driven by the services that can be sold to customers; technology in itself is not of interest to end-users. Operators also differentiate themselves in a highly competitive market by the services that they sell. A sound understanding of services is thus vital for anyone working in the communications domain.
The aim of this book is therefore to present the broad sweep of developments in communications services. Because of the breadth of the subject, it can be difficult even for practitioners to understand what is happening outside their own specialist niches. Rapid technological changes also make it difficult to keep abreast. To fully understand current developments would require participation in many standards organizations, would need monitoring of many projects, and would necessitate many hours of reading emerging standards (many of them hard to come by except for committee members). This book aims to alleviate much of the difficulty by bringing together in one place the combined expertise of the contributors.
The focus of the book is on technical issues. It deals with the technologies that support the development of services, as well as the networking aspects needed to support services. Commercial issues are important, such as pricing and selling communications services, but are not the subject of this book.
The book is designed to help anyone with a technical interest in communications services. This includes communications engineers, strategists, consultants, managers, educators and students. Although the book is written for the practicing engineer, it would also be suitable for self-study or as part of a graduate course on communications. It is assumed that the reader has a computing background and a general knowledge of communications.
The book is intended for practitioners in the field of telecomms. This includes practising engineers, trainee engineers (including students) and researchers. A basic understanding is assumed of computing and telecomms, such as might be expected of a computing Honours undergraduate.
Contributor affiliations (at the time of writing) are as follows:
| Farooq Anjum | Telcordia Technologies, USA |
| John-Luc Bakker | Telcordia Technologies, USA |
| Gordon Blair | Lancaster University, UK |
| Marcus Brunner | NEC Europe, Germany |
| Graham Clark | Marconi Communications, UK |
| Munir Cochinwala | Telcordia Technologies, USA |
| Steve Corley | British Telecommunications, UK |
| Geoff Coulson | Lancaster University, UK |
| Wayne Cutler | Marconi Communications, UK |
| James Irvine | University of Strathclyde, UK |
| Pierre Johnson | Consultant, Canada |
| Chris Lott | Telcordia Technologies, USA |
| Evan H. Magill | University of Stirling, UK |
| David J. Marples | Telcordia Technologies |
| Peter Martin | Marconi Communications, UK |
| Alistair McBain | Marconi Communications, UK |
| Erich Morisse | Consultant, USA |
| Robert Pinheiro | Telcordia Technologies, USA |
| Hyong Sop Shim | Telcordia Technologies, USA |
| James Smith | Institute for Scientific Research, USA |
| Simon Tsang | Telcordia Technologies, USA |
| Kenneth J. Turner | University of Stirling, UK |
| John Wullert | Telcordia Technologies, USA |