The CCITT: Organization, U.S. Participation, and Studies Toward the ISDN

The possibility of an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) encircling the globe by the year 2000 is of increasing interest to the worldwide telecommunication community—developers, carriers, manufacturers, and users. Accelerating telecommunication and computer technologies, coupled with the information explosion and parallel market demands for information services, are generally seen to be the prime movers. The International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (CCITT), always concerned with the development of Recommendations which will aid in international telecommunication connectivity, has put its major emphasis during the present study period, 1981-1984, on the ISDN. The U.S. telecommunication industry is showing great interest in the work of the CCITT, anticipating strong effects of the developing standards on the U.S. market. This report presents a survey of the CCITT and of its role in the study and evolution of the proposed, worldwide, telephony–based ISDN.