9. Evolution of switching architectures and techniques

The proportion of pure telephone traffic on a network is tending to decline in developed countries, with the emergence of new services such as data transmission and ISDN. However, it is clear that voice transmission will remain the predominant service for a long time to come, albeit with significant developments in the facilities offered. This is particularly true of the intelligent network concept, which aims to facilitate the creation of new services. The idea of the intelligent network has itself given rise to a new concept: personal communication. In fact, it's the possibility offered to users to find all the facilities of their subscription, wherever they are. This service can be offered via either the fixed or mobile network. It's a very promising service, but one that will take time to implement.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a digital transmission...