Integrated access: the achievement of a vision

The authors highlight many of the open challenges to fulfilment of the technical specification for TR-303. The telephone operating companies have a vision of integrated access that focuses on increased revenues at a reduced cost in a timely fashion. TR-303 is a technical solution that begins to address many of the issues embodied in this vision. While there are many technical challenges, the key to the timely introduction of TR-303 technology is compatibility with the existing investment in operations systems (OSs), local digital switches (LDSs) and digital loop carrier systems. TR-303 will begin with a core feature set that will be proven in close interaction between the LDS and the remote digital terminal. The existence of working TR-303 systems in the network, working with existing OSs, will provide a springboard for new OS functionality as well as providing a stable interface for development