Telecommunications and Distributed Connectivity Technology

Telecommunications and Distributed Connectivity Technology Systems

In ranking and defining the efficiency of telecommunications and distributed technology systems used for collaboration in local and global teams, the ability to manage shared voice and data, one-to-many and many-to-many configurations, availability of service, speed and cost are the factors considered in this analysis. Wireless LAN and WAN technologies are also redefining how local and global teams collaborate, re-ordering working relationships, hours and locations as well (Duresi, Paruchuri, 2008). The progression of telecommunications and distributed networks, progressing from LANs to WANs to encompass wireless technologies, are creating virtual work teams that are globally based instead of being constrained by geographic location (Zhang, Long, Chao, Chang, Sayah, 2004).

Ranking the Efficiency of Telecommunications and Distributed Connectivity Systems

The origin of telecommunications and distributed connectivity systems that eventually grew to encompass LANs and WANs began with the Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) that enabled bidirectional communication, yet did little to nurture and serve as the catalyst for collaboration across teams either locally or globally. The growth of POTS-based systems to include basic telephone systems services to include Office Premises Extensions (OPX), Wide Area Telecommunications Services (WATS), and Private Branch Exchange (PBX) made it possible for teams to have one-to-many and many-to-many conference calls and discussions. Datasets and information that corresponded to the voice calls often traveled through manually-based approaches, from sending diskettes around to the first e-mail applications. Often conference calls were impeded by the lack of similar fluidity of data. The need for integrated voice and data became evident as WANs became the new standard for sharing data and voice communications throughout an organization.

The progression from POTS to Leased Line Services and within those services, T1 and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) services signaled the ability of local and global teams to combine both data and voice, and in the case of Frame Relay-based networks, the use of Asynchronous Transfer Model (ATM)-based networks. ATM-based networks have wide availability, can be switchable or fixed in configuration, and also are one of the only WAN-based technologies that have Quality of Service (QoS) functionality designed into the architecture. ATM-based networks operate at 622 Mbps, and are scalable for both intensive data and voice traffic, including support for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) configurations. VoIP is a high bandwidth approach to sending and receiving telephone calls over the Internet. Correspondingly, ATM-based WANS are some of the most expensive with costs per month in services well into five or six figures. R&D-centric companies including Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, Nokia and others rely on ATM-based WANs to lower their telephony costs and also provide the necessary network bandwidth to share large, digitally intensive files throughout their networks. ATM-based WANs are therefore one of the most efficient yet costly approaches for ensuring a high degree of responsiveness to global teams working collaboratively on complex, involved projects.

The majority of global teams however rely on Frame Relay WANs that average 45 Mbps and cost significantly less than ATM networks. Frame Relay WANs support both switchable and fixed configuration, are scalable to support bursts in audio and digital traffic and also have global wide availability. As more projects become more global in scope, Frame Relay as a WAN technology option is increasingly being chosen in mid-size and small companies. Smaller businesses that have global partnerships are using new techniques to optimize their Frame Relay networks to gain the cost advantages and lower total cost of ownership that is possible using VoIP and data interchange standards (Awan, Shih, Durresi, 2008). Frame Relay and ATM networks are prevalent in globalized companies that require a high degree of collaboration across time zones.

Conversely, for local workgroups the use of T1 Services, ISDN, or DSL-based services, all of which are significantly lower in price relative to ATM and Frame Relay networks, have the disadvantage of being fixed in configuration (with the exception of ISDN) and don't support QoS functionality as part of their inherent design. However for smaller localized workgroups, the ability to transmit both data and voice over T1, ISDN and DSL-based LANs and WANs favor these technologies and their lower total cost of ownership.