Direct end-office trunking

摘要

An apparatus and method for providing direct trunking between a TDM switch and an backbone network are described. The apparatus is an interface adapted to convert pulse code modulated data to the data format of the backbone network and vice versa. The interface is adapted to emulate a trunk peripheral of the TDM switch by communicating with a computing module of the switch using a messaging protocol native to the computing module. The interface may therefore be connected to the TDM switch without any modification of the computing module. The interface is connected directly to a serial link of a fabric interface of the TDM switch. The advantages include a reduction in the capital investment in equipment required to connect a TDM switch to backbone network and a reduced footprint for the equipment.