SPECIFICATION OF THE BROAD-BAND USER NETWORK INTERFACE

The RACE (research into advanced communications in Europe) collaborative programme was established to encourage the introduction of integrated broadband communications (IBC) into Europe. One of the essential prerequisites for the success of IBC which RA CE identified was a set of implementable specifications covering the interface between the customer and the public network. Project R1044 was established as part of the RACE I programme to consider IBC development and implementation strategies. One part of this project was concerned with the specification of the broadband user/network interface (BUNI). This work was undertaken by the UNI workpackage with BT as the prime contractor. The output of this workpackage was a complete specification of the UNI covering the three lower layers of the ISO/OSI model. Subsequently a follow-on project to the UNI work, MAGIC, was set up as a RACE II project, again with BT as prime contractor. The aim of MAGIC was to develop the work done in the UNI project on signalling protocols and service descriptions. MAGIC is now working on signalling protocols for both the UNI and the NNI, which take into account the additional demands which will be introduced by multimedia, multiparty and other flexible services. This paper describes the work carried out in the UNI project and lists the main features of the specification which was developed. This is followed by an overview of the MAGIC project, its aims, structure, and some initial results.