Access network architectural issues for future telecommunication networks

摘要

This article discusses the evolution of access networks to support future multimedia services, with emphasis on the role of Working Party 3 of ITU-T Study Group 13. An overview of the access network is given, and the interfaces between the access network and other portions of the telecommunications network such as the user-network interface (UNI), service node interface (SNI), and telecommunication management (Q3) interface are described. The major functions of the access network are summarized, and various examples of multimedia access architectures are discussed. Fundamental principles for the broadband service node interface (VB5) standard are reviewed.