Towards ATM based public multiservice network-Croatian approach

Considering the transition of political and economical system in the 90s, with negative influence of political instabilities in region, "Croatian Telecom", as a successor of former PTT, is facing greater demands for data services. Evolution of data services in Croatia and their state before introduction of an ATM based public multiservice network are presented. Consolidation of current data networks was one of the first premises for this project. Preparation for competition in the telecom market enforces the introduction of new services and their nation-wide availability intensive study of user demand trends was done, considering services and bandwidth. The need for a frame relay service, as well as customers´ bandwidth demands is dramatically increasing. Without a dedicated frame relay service network, "Croatian Telecom" is facing the necessity of building a new network which has to be open and adaptable for services which are yet to come and in the same time has to satisfy current users demands. It led us to the multiservice network design based on "El premise" and to the distribution of service access points in favour of frame relay. The principle of Croatian ATM based multiservice network designs is described, and target network is shown. This network is considered as the important step towards planned introduction of "turn key solution" services for corporate customers. Verified results from this project could be used as a framework for similar activities in relatively small national telecommunication networks in our region.