ISDN in North America

The North American ISDN Users´ Forum (NIUF), intended to bring together the communities involved in shaping a market-driven competitive ISDN, is discussed. These communities include users, service providers, network equipment manufacturers, customer premises-equipment (CPE) manufacturers, and applications software developers. The role of the NIUF in the product development cycle, NIUF activities, and other important ISDN activities that complement the NIUF work are described. The beginning deployment of a national ISDN and a major demonstration of ISDN capability within North America are also discussed. It is argued that the budding cooperation between the NIUF, the standards bodies, the Corporation for Open Systems (COSs), and Bellcore suggests that migration toward a single set of well-defined specifications is underway.<>