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The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is the network of the world's public circuit-switched telephone networks, in much the same way that the Internet is the network of the world's public IP-based packet-switched networks. Originally a network of fixed-line analog telephone systems, the PSTN is now almost entirely digital, and now includes mobile as well as fixed telephones. The PSTN is largely governed by technical standards created by the ITU-T, and uses E.163/E.164 addresses (more commonly known as telephone numbers) for addressing. The PSTN was the earliest example of traffic engineering to deliver Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. A.K. Erlang (1878–1929) is credited with establishing the mathematical foundations of methods required to determine the amount and configuration of equipment and the number of personnel required to deliver a specific level of service. In the 1970s the telecommunications industry conceived that digital services would follow much the same pattern as voice services, and conceived a vision of end-to-end circuit switched services, known as the Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (B-ISDN). The B-ISDN vision has been overtaken by the disruptive technology of the Internet. Only the oldest parts of the telephone network still use analog technology for anything other than the last mile loop to the end user, and in recent years digital services have been increasingly rolled out to end users using services such as DSL, ISDN, FTTX and cable modem systems.
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