Trends in Broadband Communication Networks

Abstract The growing demand for multimedia applications on the Internet provides a major opportunity for broadband enterprise and residential access network services. Applications such as streaming media, content delivery distribution, and high speed Internet access require large bandwidths and guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS). Currently, the core networking solutions provide bandwidth up to OC‐192 and future networks will employ OC‐768. The broadband core offers more bandwidth than is necessary today, whereas there is a bandwidth bottleneck on the access end. This article describes the different broadband access technology options for enterprise networks including Gigabit Ethernet, Frame Relay, ATM, and broadband satellite with network examples. The technologies, examples and standardization efforts for residential access including Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL), Cable, Fixed Wireless, Mobile Wireless, and Satellite access are also discussed. Finally, future networking challenges are discussed using a MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) based enterprise network as an example.