A broadband customer premises network prototype for integrated communications services

A broadband customer premises network (CPN) provides communications and control interface functions between public information networks and among customer terminal equipment. The authors describe an experimental research prototype CPN designed to interconnect with future public exchange telecommunications networks, where access may be provided via optical fiber to or near the premises, in digital format and at information rates far in excess of those currently provided by current telephone systems. The architecture and prototyping efforts described validate the feasibility of concepts for broadband networking now under consideration in standards bodies worldwide. Progress toward the implementation of these concepts in an experimental CPN to study connection to the future B-ISDN (broadband integrated services digital network) serves to demonstrate the possibilities for the delivery of existing and information-age multimedia services