Abstract:
The hottest buzzword in telecommunications today is. convergence. While
convergence has different meanings to different people in the industry, it can be
defined simply as the integration of multiple media at the circuit level. Media can be
any combination of voice, data, video, graphics, fax, or any other digitized
information form. As both ATM and IP now are viable transmission technologies for
these media, it becomes critical to examine which transmission technology is best suited and most' cost effective for varying traffic. Therefore, this thesis examines the
architecture, structure and implementation of both technologies in relation to voice,
data and video highlighting the suitability or otherwise of both technologies for these
services. A comparative analysis of these technologies was carried out based on
several parameters like cost, reliability, complexity, speed, multimedia support,
connection type, quality of service, delay, suitable industry and video application. It
was observed that Network Designers in their choice between both technologies
would have to make compromises based on cost/benefit trade-offs of these
technologies for different services. The thesis concludes with a prediction of what the
future holds for convergence networks .
