Over time, communication technologies have changed a great deal. Today, IP telephony and VoIP are all the rage. However, we find that many institutions made some very heavy investments while creating infrastructure that most commonly includes analog interfaces and lines to handle the traditional copper-based services such as fax, internet and calling. As such, there is always a sense of worry about the continued support for the legacy systems because it’s more likely that the world would go past telephone lines. Since some of these telephone lines are more permanent than others, they are rarely used and thus forgotten. As a matter of fact, legacy telecom services continue to be a fundamental part of network operations. Since the companies used significant resources putting the infrastructure in place, it doesn’t make sense to discard it because new technology has come along.

Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) is a technology usually located in a central station in an institution that handles the signals from various client Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connections and then pushes them to a high-speed backbone line using multiplexing technologies. Depending on the type of DSLAM multiplexer, DSL lines are connected by combining asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), Internet Protocol networks or frame relays. As such, a lot of support must be poured into these older technologies to keep them on par with the newer technologies at work.

Support for narrowband

Narrowband is basically defined as a radio channel bandwidth using 25 kHz or less for communication. Although tech is evolving, companies are still using narrowband to power some of its services. In enterprise today, developers have come up with Narrowband IoT also known as LTE-M2 or NB-IoT. They are specifically used because of better range and sensitivity and lower noise bandwidth. As such, for an organization’s IoT to work flawlessly with minimal downtime, they need to constantly monitor it and ensure that it stays free of interference. Since narrowband has a bandwidth of 1.544 Mbps, some serious multiplexing must be conducted thus DSLAM are critical for continued use and functionality of resulting apps.

Plain Telephone service

The core of most networks back in the days were telephones. Their lines carried both voice and data over thousands of miles to ensure that communication was at a hundred percent throughout. As such, they were a major investment for most organizations. Even though these cables are no longer the main carriers of data, they still serve a critical role as the main route of communication. As such, they require support and maintenance for them to work at the highest efficiency possible. In that regard, they need a Multiservice Access Platform (MSAP) to interface with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). These MSAPs can integrate with the usual deployments in North America such as the GR-303, GR-08, and the GR-57.

Special services

Since companies have gotten used to analog special services such as Direct Outward Dial Service (DOD), Direct Inward Dial Service (DID), 2- or 4-wire E&M Service, Equalized Transmission Only (ETO) among others, it’s important to ensure that you have proper support for the services especially for those that are used a lot throughout the company. In this case, you need a Digital loop carrier that not only supports your current infrastructure, and allows you to have more functionality from your existing equipment.

T1 lines

For businesses that are concerned a lot about their security and maintaining a direct connection to the service providers, T1 lines come in very handy. Due to their purposes as data carriers, they use an advanced telephone line to ensure that more data is transmitted. The speed of a T1 is constant and consistent at 1.544 Mbps while still carrying 24 voice channels which with enough compression can be changed to 48. To this end, you might need to use an MSAP module to ensure that the intact service also known as asynchronous service stays error-free.

There are a lot of legacy functionalities that companies have not changed over to their digital counterparts. Whereas there is new technology at play, some companies either don’t see the need to change over or they don’t have the resources to change things over. As such, services such as Legacy DDS (Digital Data Service), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) should all have their corresponding support so that downtime can be kept at a minimum always. This not only ensures continuity of business, but also makes sure that the company’s resources are put to the best possible use.