Overview of Communication Network Evolution

Toshiki Tanaka, D.E. Minoru Inayoshi Noboru Mizuhara ABSTRACT: The shifts in social paradigm can trigger diversified communication services. Therefore, technical “seeds” must be fostered to meet these needs. This entails building an infrastructure for communication networks and technologies for user systems. We can observe significant developments in (a) transmission systems, in which the characteristics of technological “seeds” in optical transmission and wireless transmission meet these requirements, (b) switching systems, which are moving towards ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) technology, and (c) storage systems, which handle multimedia above transmission and switching systems. Furthermore, it is expected that the communication network infrastructure will evolve towards greater reliability and contain more intelligent functions by modification of the management system.