Overviews

It is important to understand that writing the specifications for telecommunications architecture and the related standards is difficult work. Precision is needed but difficult to achieve. The architecture and standards are always subject to interpretation. Therefore, it is entirely possible for two companies to implement networks that they believe correspond to a set of standards but then have the resulting networks unable to communicate with each other. True compatibility in telecommunications must be confirmed by extensive testing of the components thought to be compatible.

Telecommunications is a highly architected field with a high degree of standardization. Telecommunications architectures provide the framework for design and implementation of communications networks and systems. Layered architectures, when supplemented with standards, provide a modularity of implementation that allows the flexibility to meet current and future requirements.

The International Organization for standardization developed a model for Open Systems Interconnection, which still serves as the basis for describing communications systems. However, the model was never broadly converted into implemental standards and products, so the TCP/IP model and protocols have become the standard by which most of the world’s data communications networks are implemented.