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From: munnari!cit5.cit.oz.au!jwb@uunet.uu.net (Jim Breen)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: The Torsten & Jim ISDN Chat Show (was ISDN & TCP/IP)
Message-ID: <2301@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 15 Dec 89 00:35:07 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 582, message 10 of 10


In article <2108@accuvax.nwu.edu>, euatdt@euas17c10.ericsson.se (Torsten 
Dahlkvist) writes:
 
> Hello again!
 
> In article <2023@accuvax.nwu.edu> jwb@cit5.cit.oz (Jim Breen) writes:
 
> >What you need to solve your problems are some ISDN Terminal Adaptors
> >(TA) of various flavors. The problem is they haven't been developed
> >yet! .............
 
> Funny you should ask...
 
> I spent five years (83 - 88) as part of Ericsson's ISDN terminal
> project. We did produce a feature-phone and a range of TA:s which
> conform very closely to the "official" ISDN spec. The deviations were
[etc.]
> Ericsson's terminals are available NOW for Ericsson customers. The
> TA:s handle V24, X21 and X25 to mention the more popular protocols.
> The only problems are availability and the prices...
 
> You see, we started that project way back before any VLSI:s had
> appeared on the market (actually, we cooperated closely with AMD in
> their work with their chipset) and the custom-circuits used in that
> first generation of terminals are *expensive* and hard to get. This
> puts the prices of the terminals at a level few customers can handle
> and in reality all sales so far have been to Telcos using Ericsson
> equipment who want to set up field-trials for ISDN.
 
I feel somewhat humbled talking about ISDN with someone like Torsten,
who is clearly well on top of both the technology and the pit-falls.
It is also fascinating for me, an Australian, to be discussing topics
with a Swede via a newsgroup moderated in the US. What is also
fascinating is the apparent low level of understanding of ISDN in the
US. 

Why is this? Is it the state of fragmentation in the US telecommunications 
industry? Does a country need monopoly suppliers like Televerket or
Telecom Australia in order to have a working ISDN?

Getting back to Torsten's reply to my reply to Dr Weber's questions,
clearly he is right; there *ARE* TAs around. The trouble is you can
scour the trade press and not find a single advertisement for them.
You can ask Ericsson's Australian subsidiary for details of Torsten's
TAs and be told that they can only supply bog-standard adaptors for
their MD110 PABXs (and this from the company which supplies the AXE
exchanges (COs) on which our ISDN is built!)

As a Volvo owner (a Japanese speaking one at that) I am saddened that
Ericssons aren't taking on the world with their TAs. You can only take
corporate conservatism so far.
 
   _______           Jim Breen (jwb@cit5.cit.oz) Department of Robotics &
  /o\----\\     \O      Digital Technology. Chisholm Inst. of Technology
  RDT\   /|\   \/|   -:O____/         PO Box 197 Caulfield East 3145
   O------O    _/_\    /\ /\          (p) 03-573 2552 (fax) 572 1298