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Archive   : ISDNTXT.ZIP
Filename : SUNISDN.TXT
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Date: Tue, 9 Jun 92 14:52:15 PDT
From: [email protected]
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
To: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected]
Subject: Sun ISDN Products
Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation recently announced the SPARCstation 10.
Included in the announcement was information on Sun's ISDN products.
The following Question and Answer sections give an overview of what
Sun's ISDN products and timeframe are, as well as a brief description
of the ISDN technology.
*************************************************************************
SECTION I - SUN'S ISDN PRODUCTS
*************************************************************************
Q: What is Sun's timeframe for shipping ISDN products?
A: The following was announced on May 19:
Part Availability
---- ------------
BRI Chip on the motherboard Q3 CY92
ISDN Drivers on Solaris 2.x Q4 CY92
Teleservices API Q1 CY93
Wide Area Networking software Q1 CY93
The chip on the motherboard provides a BRI (basic rate interface) ISDN
connection, and the drivers provide a low level interface to the
hardware. The Teleservices API enables application development for
workstation/telephony integration. The WAN software enables data
communication - running IP over ISDN (in other words, applications that
run over ethernet will run over ISDN).
Q: Why did Sun choose Basic Rate ISDN?
A: ISDN is the only worldwide standard for telephony. Analog
telephony is not standardized, so it would be extremely difficult to
put hardware on every system that would work worldwide. Basic Rate
ISDN is a relatively inexpensive way to bring ISDN to every user's
desktop - the technology is inexpensive and it takes advantage of the
exising phone network. We see customers using PRI (Primary Rate ISDN)
as a connection between servers, much as leased lines are used today.
We expect to see PRI boards available from Sun third parties.
Q: Does my workstation have to be certified?
A: Yes, Sun is in the process of getting the SPARCstation 10 certified
by the respective regulatory agencies in each country (eg. the FCC in
the US). The workstation is shipping with a blocking plate over the
ISDN connectors which can be removed when certification is complete.
In the US, the UK, France, Germany and Japan, we expect certification
by Q1 CY93.
Q: How is ISDN integrated with audio?
A: They are very tightly integrated - which allows users to use a
headphone connected to the SpeakerBox as a telephone. Also, telephony
applications use the audio hardware for input and output, freeing the
CPU for other functions.
Q: What is the Teleservices API?
A: The high level interface provides basic telephony functionality for
applications developers - like call setup, transfer, hold, etc. The
low level interface provides a hardware independent architecture to
encourage third parties to provide hardware and software for analog and
proprietary digital interfaces.
Q: Which telephone switches does the software support?
A: Currently, the software protocols for telephone companies' switches
are not standardized. In the first release, we have developed protocols
to support data communications in the US (for the AT&T 5ESS switch), the
UK, France, Germany and Japan. For voice, we support the AT&T 5ESS
switch only. Developers who want to write to other switches can
write to the driver level.
Q: What about the next release?
A: Fortunately, there are emerging standards for switch interfaces.
Our philosophy is to support these standards - National ISDN-1 for the
US and Canada and EuroISDN for Europe. Both of these are expected to
be stable by 1993. We are also evaluating which other switches we will
support in the next release.
Q: Will the software run on SunOS 4.x?
A: No, it will only run under Solaris 2.x.
*************************************************************************
SECTION 2 - ISDN APPLICATIONS
*************************************************************************
Q: How will Sun customers use ISDN?
A: There are two major areas - data communication and voice services.
Wide area networking will be the most common use of ISDN at first.
Users will transfer data across ISDN lines for applications like
telecommuting, database or information services access, still image
transfer and remote backup. With the software that Sun will release,
users will be able to run over ISDN the applications that they run over
ethernet today. The other major applications are enabled by the
integration of the telephone and the workstation. Third parties are
developing a new generation of applications that take advantage of this
integration - turning the SPARCstation into an intelligent phone. For
more information and examples, please see the ISDN Customer
Presentation.
Q: Does ISDN replace Ethernet? Leased lines?
A: No. Ethernet will still be used for Local Area Networks where it
is used today. Large companies who send large amounts of data will
still use dedicated, leased lines between major sites. ISDN provides
users with an inexpensive way to temporarily connect to another site -
to a customer, a supplier, a remote office, an employee at home.
*************************************************************************
SECTION 2 - SUN'S ISDN HARDWARE SPECIFICS
*************************************************************************
Q: How will the hardware be delivered on the SPARCStation platform?
A: The Basic Rate ISDN chip is on the motherboard of the SPARCstation 10.
There will be a release of an unbundled SBus card for the installed
base in Q193.
Q: Is it certified by the appropriate regulatory agency?
A: We expect certification for data services in the US (for the AT&T
5ESS switch), the UK, France, Germany and Japan by Q193. For
voice services, we expect certification in the US only by Q193.
We will be seeking further certification for both voice and
data in other countries in 1993. Our goal in the long term
is to support both in all countries. Once the SPARCstation
is certified, the customer can remove the blocking plate
that was shipped to cover the connectors on the backpanel.
Q: What does voice and data services mean?
A: We expect that data services are the first applications where our
customers will use ISDN. Applications include telecommuting,
database access, image transfer, and remote backup. Voice
services means that you are adding voice communications to
the application - for conferencing and collaboration, desktop
telephony and corporate telephony (eg. customer service).
Q: What are the ISDN connectors on the SPARCstation?
A: There are two ports - the TE (terminal endpoint) port and the NT
(network termination) port. The TE port connects to the
wall jack through an RJ45 connector on the back of the
SPARCstation. The NT port is for testing and diagnostics only
in this release.
Q: How do I connect my SPARCstation to the ISDN network?
A: There are two different ways, depending on the application:
-ISDN data services only
-Integrated ISDN voice and data
In the first case, the customer will connect their SPARCstation
to the network through one of the RJ45 connectors. Their voice
services will remain separate - through their current telephone.
In the second case, a T connector can be used to connect both
the user's ISDN telephone and the SPARCstation to the wall jack.
| ________ ISDN Telephone
|---------|
| |________ SPARCstation
|
Wall
Q: Do I need any additional hardware?
A: If you want to do integrated data and voice, you need an ISDN
telephone. Also, if you get your ISDN service from the public
telephone company (eg. Pacific Bell in California), you will
also need to purchase a box called an NT1 from the phone
company. If your ISDN service comes from your PBX, you will
not need this box. In Europe and Japan, the public telephone
supplier will supply the required ISDN termination box as standard.
Q: How much does it cost?
A: An ISDN phone line generally costs between 1 and 2 times that of
an analog phone line. Prices vary in different countries
and regions - check with your phone company. Check with your
PBX vendor to find out how much it will cost to upgrade your PBX
line cards to be ISDN capable. An NT1 runs from free in some
countries to about $200.
Q: Can the SPARCstation be used as a telephone?
A: Yes, SPARCstation architecture allows it to be used as a telephone.
We recommend that headphones are attached to the speakerbox
for privacy and to resolve echo problems - and because the
speakerbox itself is not a certified telephone. Also, we
recommend that the user has a telephone attached to the
workstation so that if the workstation power goes down, the
phone is still operational.
Q: Can you place multiple ISDN cards into a Sun server?
A: Yes. The software is set-up to handle a (theoretically) unlimited
number of ISDN cards. We will be testing a server configuration
with 4 ISDN cards providing simultaneous service in the lab.
Performance issues (relating to one server serving multiple
cards) is expected to be negligible.
Q: Would Sun's ISDN implementation be tested to work with ISDN ports
offered by the router vendors such as Cisco?
A: Sun has no plans to do this testing. However, we will work with
router vendors that want to do compatibility testing with Sun's
ISDN hardware.
Q: If the workstation goes down for some reason, would it impact the
operation of a user's telephone in any way?
A: The ISDN chip architecture is designed in such a way that it shorts
the ISDN connector at the SPARCstation if the workstation is
not operational. When this happens, a user's phone works in
a normal fashion.
*************************************************************************
SECTION 3 - SUN'S ISDN SOFTWARE SPECIFICS
*************************************************************************
Q: What are the components to the software and when will they ship?
A: There are four major components:
-Drivers
-ISDN Protocols
-IP over ISDN WAN software
-Teleservices Platform & APIs
The drivers will ship with the next version of Solaris 2.x
in Q492. The rest of the software will ship in Q193. There
will be no software available on Sun OS 4.x.
Q: What are the ISDN protocols and which switches do they support?
A: The low level ISDN protocols (Q.921 and Q.931) are used by the
IP software and by the Teleservices Platform and APIs.
For data services, they support switch service from French
Telecom, NTT Japan, British Telecom, Deustsche Bundespost,
and US telcos with the AT&T 5ESS switch with 5E5 software.
Voice services are supported in the US on the AT&T 5ESS.
Q: What are Sun's long-term goals for switch support?
A: In the United States and Canada, we will support National ISDN-1,
a switch standard that will become widely available in 1993.
In Europe, we will support a switch standard called EuroISDN
which should be available in 1993 also. A future release
of the software will support these standards.
Q: How will Sun support customers with their own PBXs?
A: If the PBX is compatible with public switches, Sun's solution
should work transparently. If not, either the customer or
the PBX vendor will have to write the software protocols.
Customers can still use the Teleservices API by plugging
the protocols into the lower level, published interface.
(See the API questions).
Q: Does Sun support V.110 or V.120 standards for transmission at lower
rates than 64 kbps?
A: Sun does not support these standards in the first release.
Q: For countries like the US that have 56 kbps channels instead of
64 kbps, how does Sun hardware and software handle transparent
transmission?
A: Sun's hardware and software have the capability to transmit at either
of these rates.
Q: Can Sun hardware and Software allow users to concatenate 2B
channels for an increased throughput of 128 Kbps or 112 kbps?
A: Sun's hardware is capable of supporting a 128 kbps link called an
H channel. However, the H channel service is not available at
this time from most telephone carriers. Therefore, Sun's software
in the first release will support the capability to have 2 parallel
B-channel data links.
Q: If a customer only orders 1B+D service from its telephone company,
in the US (such as Pacific Bell) what changes, if any, will have
to made in Sun's software?
A: None.
Q: What is the Teleservices Platform and API?
A: The API enables developers to write telephony applications. In
addition to generic call setup and teardown features, the
API supplementary features include Hold, Drop, Conference,
Transfer. The protocols developed by Sun run on the AT&T
5ESS switch in the first release. However, the API also
includes a lower level interface so that users can write
protocols to run on their switches. The API will then work
on top of those protocols.
Q: Do they conform to industry telephony API standards, such as the
National ISDN-1 Users' Forum?
A: At this point the NIU API has not been accepted as a standard.
Sun is closely tracking ISDN industry standards and will
implement them as appropriate.
Q: What is the IP over ISDN software?
A: IP over ISDN software enables wide area networking over
ISDN. Users can run any application software that uses
IP transparently over ISDN. Features include PPP (point
to point) security: Password, Caller Line-ID and dialback
integration with SunNetManager.
Q: Can users send messages to other platforms over ISDN?
A: Yes, as long as the other platforms also support IP over ISDN
and do PPP encapsulation in the same way that Sun does.
Q: Would a diskless workstation be able to boot from a remote
location using ISDN?
A: No. The workstation needs local memory for the IP
protocol software.
Q: Can a user with ISDN communicate with another user who may be
using modems on the analog system?
A: To enable this facility, either the customer or the telephone
company has to offer a modem pool service. Currently, none of
the telephone companies offer this service but they are planning
to offer it in the future.
Q: Would it be possible to send in stereo/high quality audio on Sun's
ISDN platform?
A: It is possible to transmit the stereo data but not in the real time
unless an external compression board is used. In this release,
Sun will not support high quality audio over ISDN.
Q: Can this ISDN port be used to send and receive Group III and IV Fax?
A: Yes, the ISDN port can be used to send and receive Group III Fax but
it may require emulating the signal processing defined for Group III
fax. Group IV standard can be implemented easily on the ISDN port
because the Group IV standard is written for transmission over digital
networks like Switched 56 and ISDN - unlike Group III which is written
for analog systems. We expect our third party partners to develop
fax applications for these environments.
Q: How does Sun intend to support analog and proprietary digital
telephone interfaces?
A: The architecture of teleservices platform does not preclude the use of
other telephone cards such as analog and/or proprietary digital.
In fact, Sun will publish the API interface specs which will help
analog and other phone interface vendors to port their hardware to
Sun's software environment.
Q: With a built-in ISDN, every Sun workstation will be open to
security breaches. What kind of security does Sun provide?
A: Sun provides 3 levels of security in the first release; password
authentication, Caller line-ID and dial back security. Users
can also request that data calls are not sent to their machines.
*************************************************************************
SECTION 4 - BACKGROUND ON ISDN TECHNOLOGY
*************************************************************************
Q: What is Basic Rate ISDN?
A: ISDN is a worldwide standard for digital telephone service. Anyone
whose local phone company or local PBX supports ISDN can order
ISDN telephone service. Basic rate ISDN provides a guaranteed
bandwidth of up to 128 kbps to the user. There are 2B+D channels -
the 2B data channels are up to 64kbps and the D control channel
is 16 kbps. Please note that digital doesn't necessarily mean
ISDN. There are many proprietary digital switches and telephones
out there today.
Q: How many types of ISDN are there?
A: There are three types of ISDN, that each offer different
bandwidths. Basic Rate ISDN offers up to 128 kbps and is generally
available worldwide. Primary Rate ISDN offers up to 2 Mbps, and can be
used much like leased lines are used today. Broadband ISDN offers
rate as high as 6 Gbps but is not likely to be generally available at
least until 1995.
Q: Our office phone system is already digital - what is the big deal?
A: Your office phone system is digital, but not standard. Most
offices today use their own PBX (private branch exchange) and use a
proprietary digital system offered by the PBX vendor. As with any
proprietary standard, there is no interoperability except between the
equipment from the same vendor. ISDN brings the concept of "open
systems" to telephony.
Q: Is ISDN a replacement for analog modems?
A: An ISDN connection will replace analog modems over time. ISDN
provides a much higher bandwidth than analog lines; up to 128 kbps.
Q: How is ISDN different from Ethernet?
A: Overall, Ethernet has a much higher bandwidth than basic rate
ISDN. However, ISDN provides a guaranteed bandwidth - a dedicated
point-to-point connection. This enables sending time-critical data
like audio and video - the time that it takes to transfer the data is
not dependent on network traffic.
Q: Do customers need new wiring for ISDN?
A: No, they can use existing telephone wiring. However, their
equipment (such as their telephone or their SPARCstation) must be ISDN
capable, and their telephone switch (their PBX or their local telephone
company switch) must be ISDN capable.
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