Telephony: history, architecture and evolution

The aim of this course is to understand the basic principles and operation of traditional telephony switching, IP telephony and CTI (Computer Telephony Integration). It also provides an overview of the new generation of IP-based services such as videoconferencing and video-on-demand.

The aim of this course is to acquire knowledge of the architectures, protocols and signaling used in conventional telephony and IP telephony (SS7, H323, SIP). Understand technical and strategic developments and their impact on public and corporate networks. Learn about the software solutions available for IP telephony and CTI applications.

1. Telephony switching: from PSTN to ISDN
History of telecommunications
General telephony principles
Telephone network organization
Digital and analog transmission
ISDN
ISDN signaling
Subscriber installation and private telephone network
PBX architecture
PBX private networks
2. Telephony over IP
Multimedia Internet: convergence towards IP
Quality of service for audio-video streams over IP
Principles of multimedia communications
Terminals and gateways for telephony over IP
Migration from traditional telephony to IP telephony
CTI: Couplage Téléphonie Informatique

3. Audio and video signal compression
Audio compression
Different types of dedicated audio encoders for digital telephony
Video compression
Example of video compression standards

4. Signaling for IP telephony services
ITU-T H.323 signaling
IETF SIP signaling
MGCP, MEGACO and H.248 gateway signaling