Provides direct experience with telecommunications functions and equipment through experiments and demonstrations. Students work in teams to learn the fundamental techniques of voice and data switching, and the fundamental functions of data networking and services. Topics range from LAN Switching (VLAN, Spanning Tree, Layer 2 security, Wireless LANs), Local access technologies (DSL, T1), Efficient IP addressing designs (CIDR,VLSM), LAN Routing (RIP, OSPF), WAN Remote Access Technologies (ISDN, Frame Relay, ATM), VPN architectures (IPSec, MPLS VPN) and VoIP services (SIP, Skinny and H323). Students must then complete a research project on an advanced topic such as (IPv6, Multicast, QoS (DiffServ, RSVP, CoS), L2 & L3 Queuing Mechanisms, Firewall Security, and others), to complete their coursework. Each experiment is designed to focus on some particular aspect of systems management, development, or maintenance for either enterprise telecommunications customers or telecommunication service providers. Procedures require the use of actual commercial equipment and services and observation and reporting of behavior and performance compared to specified requirements.

Please note: student teams and laboratory periods for the remainder of the semester will be established during the first class lecture meeting.

An additional 3 hours of unscheduled lab time is required.

Distance Learning class enrollment limited to 5 students.

To obtain practical experience that builds on the theoretical understanding acquired in other course and to gain hands on experience with various networking gear.

TLEN 5330 Data Communications 1 or instructor approval.

PC Windows 2000/XP, CD-ROM, 50 MB free space, 64M RAM, 800x600 screen resolution, active Internet connection, active e-mail account.