Telecommunications equipment (also telecoms equipment or communications equipment) are hardware which are used for the purposes of
telecommunications. Since the 1990s the boundary between telecoms equipment and IT hardware has become blurred as a result of the growth of the internet and its increasing role in the transfer of telecoms data.
Types
Telecommunications equipment can be broadly broken down into the following categories:
*Public switching equipment
**
Analogue switch
The analogue (or PETR) switch, also called the bilateral switch, is an electronic component that behaves in a similar way to a relay, but has no moving parts. The switching element is normally a pair of MOSFET transistors, one an N-channel device ...
es
**Digital switches
***
Voice over IP switches
***
Virtual reality (VR)
*Transmission equipment
**
Transmission lines
***
Optical fiber
***
Local loops
**
Base transceiver stations
**
Free-space optical communication
***
Laser communication in space
**
Multiplexers
**
Communications satellites
*Customer premises equipment (CPE)
**
Customer office terminal
In telecommunications, the term customer office terminal has the following meanings:
*1. Termination equipment that (a) is located on the customer premises and (b) performs a function that may be integrated into the common carrier equipment.
''N ...
**Private switches
**
Local area networks (LANs)
**
Modems
**
Mobile phones
**
Landline telephones
**
Answering machines
**
Teleprinters
**
Fax machines
**
Pagers
**
Routers
**
Wireless devices
Semiconductors
Most of the essential elements of modern telecommunication are built from
MOSFET
The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which d ...
s (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors), including
mobile devices,
transceivers,
base station
Base station (or base radio station) is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a "land station in the land mobile service."
The term is used in the context of mobile telephony, wireless com ...
modules,
routers,
RF power amplifiers,
s,
memory chips, and
telecommunication circuits.
As of 2005, telecommunications equipment account for 16.5% of the annual
microprocessor market.
Vendors
The world's largest telecommunications equipment vendors by revenues in 2017 are:
See also
*
Networking hardware
*
List of networking hardware vendors
Networking hardware typically refers to equipment facilitating the use of a computer network. Typically, this includes routers, switches, access points, network interface cards and other related hardware. This is a list of notable vendors who pr ...
*
List of telephone switches
This list of telephone switches is a compilation of telephone switches used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises.
American Digital Switching
* Centura 2000
Alcatel
This lists Alcatel switches before the merger ...
*
Network equipment provider
Network equipment providers (NEPs) – sometimes called telecommunications equipment manufacturers (TEMs) – sell products and services to communication service providers such as fixed or mobile operators as well as to enterprise customers. NEP ...
References
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