EXNET Connect Card Overview

Local Switching Matrix

The PCI H.100 EXNET Connect card is a single card that allows you to connect remote CSP nodes to Computer Telephony (CT) bus voice/media processing resources within the voice/media processing unit. The EXNET Connect card becomes a local switching matrix within the PC chassis, switching traffic between the EXNET ring and the CT bus resources.

EXNET Connect accomplishes the connection by switching remote node data off the EXNET high-speed fiber optic ring and onto the bi-directional CT bus, which makes the data accessible to any of the voice processing resources in the EXNET Connect node. In a similar manner, EXNET Connect switches local CT bus data onto the EXNET ring, making this data available to any of the remote CSP nodes.

The EXNET Connect plugs into any voice processing subsystem with an industry standard CT bus slot.

The following are compatibility issues and other factors to consider:

• The EXNET Connect card requires a minimum of System Software Release 8.1. Clear channel protocol is the default.

• The PCI H.100 EXNET Connect card and the CSP must be running the same version of system software.

• The Parallel Bus, although described in this chapter, will not be supported in Release 8.1.

• To use TFTP downloading with both EXNET Connect cards, the cards must have version 2.2 ROMs or later.

Communicating with the Host

The EXNET Connect cards are designed to communicate with the voice processing host externally via Ethernet, or internally via the PC parallel bus. The voice processing host can configure the EXNET Connect over the parallel bus along with the other CT bus cards in the VRU.

Important! All CSP internodal communications use Ethernet; therefore, the user must be sure to make all Ethernet connections.