Northern California region privately owned telecommunications network

Advantages and cost analysis considerations of establishing a privately owned digital microwave transmission system are reviewed. System design and equipment selection considerations, the technical architecture and the voice, data and video conferencing traffic networks of the system are outlined. The total survival of the network and the critical requirement for reliable communications during the first 24 h following an earthquake are discussed. An increase in the bandwidth of the network backbone from the original 45-Mbs ring to 90 Mbs needed to restore space capacity for alternate routing, which was being eroded by the support requirements of new facilities and new applications, is also discussed. The need to migrate from a dedicated T1 network to a dynamic allocation of bandwidth using fast packet switching technology to meet the future bandwidth demands for the transmission of medical imaging and wide area network (WAN) traffic is described