Routing Management in the PSTN and the Internet: A Historical Perspective

Two highly visible public communication networks are the publicswitched telephone network (PSTN) and the Internet. While they typically provide different services and the basic technologies underneath are different, both networks rely heavily on routing for communication between any two points. In this paper, we present a brief overview of routing mechanisms used in the PSTN and the Internet from a historical perspective. In particular, we discuss the role of management for the different routing mechanisms, where and how one is similar or different from the other, as well as where the management aspect is heading in an inter-networked environment of the PSTN and the Internet where voice over IP (VoIP) services are offered.