AT&T's New Approach To The Synchronization Of Telecommunication Networks

AT&T currently provides synchronization to its own national telecommunications network, to customer private digital networks, to most of the Bell Operating Companies, and to many independent telephone companies. As the evolution to an all digital network nears completion, and as new services and applications place increasing demands on the performance, operations, and verification of the synchronization network, AT&T has adopted a correspondingly new set of plans and procedures to synchronize its nationwide switched network and customer private digital networks. AT&T's new plans produce the premier synchronization capability needed to satisfy the exacting needs of our customers for new services, applications, and verification. AT&T's synchronization advances have been fourfold: (1) deploying a new network of sixteen Primary Reference Clocks to provide synchronization timing reference at critical locations throughout the nation, (2) deploying a new Timing Monitoring System to verify that critical timing reference is distributed with high precision throughout the nationwide network, (3) using new modeling, specifying, and testing methods to ensure the consistent performance, compatibility, and standardization of clock requirements and interfaces, and (4) using new Planning tools and methodology for private synchronization network design to meet the need created by the accelerating growth of large private digital networks.