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Metropolitan Area Communication System: Integration Phase

Objective

MAXI follows up the work started in project 2100, MAX. In MAX, the design had been carried out of a multi-services communication system suitable to meet the demand for flexible communication services coming from business users located within metropolitan areas. MAXI focuses on prototype development, integration and proof-of-concept laboratory demonstrations. The system is able to support multi-megabit applications, such as LAN-to-LAN linking, mainframe-mainframe data transfer, high-resolution image exchange, and 2 Mbit/s isochronous services (such as video conferencing, PABX interconnections, etc.).
A multiservices communication system suitable to meet the demand for flexible communication services coming from business users located within metropolitan areas has been developed. Prototype development, integration and proof of concept laboratory demonstrations have been carried out. The system is able to support multimegabit applications, such as local area network (LAN) to LAN linking, mainframe-mainframe data transfer, high resolution image exchange, and 2 Mbit/s isochronous services.

The system uses the system architecture, specification, breadboards, hardware and software modules that were developed in the MAX project, and is based on commercially available components and technologies including single mode optical fibres, optical high speed electronics, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), advanced multiprocessor architectures and software packages. It permits:
the achievement of proof of the system's principles by a laboratory prototype demonstration;
establishment of the range of major applications to be supported by a multiservice metropolitan area network (MAN) with a transmission speed of about 155 Mbit/s, and testing of the performance of a typical gathering network suitable for operating over distances of up to a few tens of kilometres;
promotion of convergence towards common European MAN standards and implementation of such standards (providing therefore valuable information to standard revision);
exploitation of worldwide market opportunities for MAX-based products and services by those consortium partners wishing to enter such a market.

The system uses optical transmission systems compliant with synchronous digital hierarchy, SDH (CCITT Recommendations G.707-G.709) at 155 Mbit/s, distributed multiple access protocol based on DQDB (ETSI/IEEE standard MAC protocol), network management system based on telecommunication management network, TMN (CCITT Recommendation M.3010). The compatibility with the asynchronous transfer mode, ATM (CCITT B-ISDN Recommendation I.121) and with the existing broadband service specifications (such as the connectionless broadband data service, CBDS, defined by ETSI) is taken into account in MAXI.

The project has been successfully promoting the MAX/MAXI concepts to foster convergence towards a common European position with MAN standard setting bodies (eg in ETSI). Active participation, including delivery of contributions, has been taking place also in the relevant committees of the CCITT and IEEE.
MAXI uses the system architecture, specification, breadboards, hardware and software modules that were developed in the MAX project, and is based on commercially available components and technologies including single-mode optical fibres, optical high-speed electronics, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), advanced multiprocessor architectures and software packages. MAXI allows to:

- achieve a proof of the system's principles by a laboratory prototype demonstration
- establish the range of major applications to be supported by a multi-service MAN with a transmission speed of about 155 Mbit/s, and to test the performance of a typical gathering network suitable for operating over distances of up to a few tens kilometres;
- promote convergence towards common European MAN standards and actually implement such standards (providing therefore valuable information to standard revision);
- exploit the worldwide market opportunities for MAX-based products and services by those consortium partners wishing to enter such a market.

Topic(s)

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Call for proposal

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Funding Scheme

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Coordinator

Sirti SpA
EU contribution
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Address
Via G.B. Pirelli, 20
20124 Milano
Italy

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Participants (6)