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A telecommunications network is a group of nodes interconnected by telecommunications links that are used to exchange messages between the nodes. The links may use a variety of technologies based on the methodologies of
circuit switching Circuit switching is a method of implementing a telecommunications network in which two network nodes establish a dedicated communications channel ( circuit) through the network before the nodes may communicate. The circuit guarantees the full ...
, message switching, or packet switching, to pass messages and signals. Multiple nodes may cooperate to pass the message from an originating node to the destination node, via multiple network hops. For this routing function, each node in the network is assigned a network address for identification and locating it on the network. The collection of addresses in the network is called the
address space In computing, an address space defines a range of discrete addresses, each of which may correspond to a network host, peripheral device, disk sector, a memory cell or other logical or physical entity. For software programs to save and retrieve s ...
of the network. Examples of telecommunications networks include computer networks, the Internet, the public switched telephone network (PSTN), the global Telex network, the aeronautical
ACARS In aviation, ACARS (; an acronym for Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) is a digital datalink system for transmission of short messages between aircraft and ground stations via airband radio or satellite. The protocol was des ...
network, and the wireless radio networks of cell phone telecommunication providers.


Network structure

In general, every telecommunications network conceptually consists of three parts, or planes (so-called because they can be thought of as being and often are, separate overlay networks): * The
data plane In routing, the forwarding plane, sometimes called the data plane or user plane, defines the part of the router architecture that decides what to do with packets arriving on an inbound interface. Most commonly, it refers to a table in which the ...
(also user plane, bearer plane, or forwarding plane) carries the network's users' traffic, the actual payload. * The
control plane In network routing, the control plane is the part of the router architecture that is concerned with drawing the network topology, or the information in a routing table that defines what to do with incoming packets. Control plane functions, such as ...
carries control information (also known as signaling). * The
management plane In computer networking, the management plane of a networking device is the element of a system that configures, monitors, and provides management, monitoring and configuration services to, all layers of the network stack and other parts of the sys ...
carries the
operations, administration and management Operations, administration and management or operations, administration and maintenance (OA&M or OAM) are the processes, activities, tools, and standards involved with operating, administering, managing and maintaining any system. This commonly ...
traffic required for network management. The management plane is sometimes considered a part of the control plane.


Data networks

Data networks are used extensively throughout the world for communication between individuals and organizations. Data networks can be connected to allow users seamless access to resources that are hosted outside of the particular provider they are connected to. The Internet is the best example of the internetworking of many data networks from different organizations. Terminals attached to IP networks like the Internet are addressed using
IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...
es. Protocols of the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) provide the control and routing of messages across the and IP data network. There are many different network structures that IP can be used across to efficiently route messages, for example: * Wide area networks (WAN) * Metropolitan area networks (MAN) * Local area networks (LAN) There are three features that differentiate MANs from LANs or WANs: # The area of the network size is between LANs and WANs. The MAN will have a physical area between 5 and 50 km in diameter. # MANs do not generally belong to a single organization. The equipment that interconnects the network, the links, and the MAN itself are often owned by an association or a network provider that provides or leases the service to others. # A MAN is a means for sharing resources at high speeds within the network. It often provides connections to WAN networks for access to resources outside the scope of the MAN. Data center networks also rely highly on TCP/IP for communication across machines. They connect thousands of servers, are designed to be highly robust, provide low latency and high bandwidth. Data center network topology plays a significant role in determining the level of failure resiliency, ease of incremental expansion, communication bandwidth and latency.


Capacity and speed

In analogy to the improvements in the speed and capacity of digital computers, provided by advances in semiconductor technology and expressed in the bi-yearly doubling of transistor density, which is described empirically by
Moore's law Moore's law is the observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit (IC) doubles about every two years. Moore's law is an observation and projection of a historical trend. Rather than a law of physics, it is an empir ...
, the capacity and speed of telecommunications networks have followed similar advances, for similar reasons. In telecommunication, this is expressed in
Edholm's law Edholm's law, proposed by and named after Phil Edholm, refers to the observation that the three categories of telecommunication, namely wireless (mobile), nomadic (wireless without mobility) and wired networks (fixed), are in lockstep and graduall ...
, proposed by and named after Phil Edholm in 2004. This empirical law holds that the
bandwidth Bandwidth commonly refers to: * Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range * Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...
of telecommunication networks doubles every 18 months, which has proven to be true since the 1970s. The trend is evident in the Internet, cellular (mobile), wireless and wired local area networks (LANs), and personal area networks. This development is the consequence of rapid advances in the development of metal-oxide-semiconductor technology.


See also

*
Transcoder free operation In a telecommunication network Transcoder free operation, or TrFO, also known as Out of band transcoder control is the concept of removing transcoding function in a call path. In legacy GSM networks a call between two mobile stations involved two ...


References

{{Authority control Telecommunications engineering Network architecture Telecommunications infrastructure