Monday, December 31, 2001		Article

Switch on a career in exchanges
Sumesh Raizada

INDIA in the past few years has witnessed a tremendous growth in the field of information technology. Indian firms, software as well as hardware, are gaining recognition all over the world for the quality of services offered by them. Indian professionals, trained in various disciplines like Web programming, software design, hardware maintenance, are nowadays getting lucrative job opportunities in India as well as abroad. With Web-based services like e-commerce, ERP, CRM, online learning, etc., gaining momentum, the importance of the infrastructure for these services has also increased considerably. At present Web-related activities are mostly dependent upon telecommunication network managed by government or private telephone networks. E-commerce and CRM transactions are taking place through the mobile telecom network also, which makes this infrastructure highly important.

Apart from these applications, telecom networks, both wired and wireless, are the lifelines for communication. Telephone is not only the means for voice transfer, but also for data transfer. Commercial activities rely on this for different requirements, between various offices or manufacturing units of an organisation or between a marketing firm and its customers. Mostly it is a flow of written or graphic information like accounts and sales data, manufacturing and shipping details, etc. These applications have led to design and development of modified and advanced exchanges that can handle voice and data traffic, without any noise, distortion or interruption in transmission.

These exchanges are required to be managed by qualified professionals who can operate and maintain such switching systems. With new exchanges coming up in the private sector, especially for wireless communication as also to upgrade existing exchanges, a whole new career opening is available as switching systems specialists. These professionals are also employed by switching exchange manufacturers for the design, development, implementation and maintenance of exchange switches for their clients.

The job potential is in organisations like C-DOT, ITI, DoT, Motorola, Nortel, Ericsson, L&T Infotech, Bell Atlantic, Sprint, AT&T, and with several private telecom operators both within and outside the country. You can work in different capacities at various levels, depending on your qualification. Engineering graduates in disciplines like electricity, electronics, telecommunication or computers, work as system engineer-switching, project officers, telecom system engineers, switching engineer, etc. MCAs or those qualified in programming are employed for software development and maintenance.

System engineer-switching are those who provide engineering support for planning, procurement and deployment of solutions for projects related to GSM, CDMA, UMTS technologies. Their task includes working with suppliers of switching or WAP networks and to understand customer’s specific requirements, resolve various pre-sale and after sale problems, etc. They are also involved in design of equipment for transmission, billing, WAP or network architecture. This position is mostly for graduates or postgraduates in engineering. You need to have proficiency in switching fundamentals planning and be capable of providing technical support and deployment of switching systems. They should also possess a thorough understanding of signaling protocols, CDMA, GSM, etc.

A system design engineer working with a cellular telecom provider or vendor, does equipment planning for the implementation of GSM technology, wireless traffic capacity modelling and design of systems with hardware such as BTSs, BSC, Transcoder, etc. They provide support to field staff in resolving problems and have to be thorough in various aspects of hardware, databases, etc. They are required to design systems, prepare acceptance test procedures, conduct acceptance tests. They interact with product development teams for product improvement and finding solutions to their problems. Those with experience in the relevant field in a telecom equipment or service company and possessing an engineering degree in electrical, electronics or telecommunication, can opt for this career.

A switching manager or switching engineer has to be a qualified engineer in relevant discipline and must possess sufficient experience in switch installation, commissioning and testing. Project Managers need to have a degree in computer or electronics engineering with technical proficiency in computer telephony integration (CTI) and telecom enhanced network services (TENS). They should possess problem-solving and analytical skills and be able to meet clients’ expectation and provide practical and optimum solutions to them.

Systems engineer-telecom implementation & support are required to work for installation and testing of telecom switching equipment and applications, providing field support at site or at remote locations, conduct training for staff, within the organisation as well as on the client’s premises. Those with a degree in electronic engineering and experience of few years in telecom switching can opt for this position. Experience and knowledge in Windows NT, Solaris, Oracle, FoxPro, etc., is also essential for succeeding in this job.

A systems engineer-telecom software development is involved in software development for various telecom applications and resolving software problems. Qualifications required are degree in electronic engineering, information technology, computer science or equivalent with relevant exposure to telecom switching or software development. Working knowledge of C/C++, Windows NT, Solaris, Oracle, FoxPro, is essential.

Career openings are also available as engineer–training. The candidate has to be a telecommunication or electronics engineer and must have exposure to implementation of testing switches, new technologies and should possess excellent presentation and communication skills. The position requires training of employees and customers on switching system, datacom, base transceiver station and base station system.

With the growing trend towards use of the Internet, various companies are working on enterprise-class PBXs and switches. Professionals are working in switching system software developments for PBXs, key telephone systems and central office switches. They coordinate with clients to develop and enhance capabilities of the products and associated components. The professionals are also involved in protocol and feature implementation, functional simulation, product sustenance and testing of switches.

Switching professionals also work as engineer-base station and network switching. They are primarily responsible for operation, monitoring and maintenance of the transmission network. They take care of system testing and administration, configuration, fault management and trouble shooting, parameter modification and preparation of network statistics and reports. Besides, they also assist line maintenance staff in trouble shooting and fault clearance. A telecommunication or electronics engineer with sufficient experience in operation and maintenance in GSM or PSTN technology is qualified for this position. Technicians-base station work for monitoring and fault clearance of the transmission network and are mostly diploma in telecommunication or electronics.

Switching professionals working with cellular service providers or vendors must posses a degree in telecommunication or electronics engineering and have experience in design, installation and maintenance of GSM switching tools. Experience in Unix operating system and related software tools is also desired. They have to be conversant with the usage of signalling, analyser tools and traffic management, performance measurement tools, standard for switching, etc. They also assist in GSM expansion projects, prepare specifications and standards, supervise switching expansion projects, etc.

Career opportunities for switching professionals also exist in abundance with equipment suppliers such as Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies, Nortel Networks, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and Siemens, for design, development, manufacturing and marketing of telecommunications switching and network equipment and related infrastructure.

Career opportunities are in abundance in the field of telecom switching. However, a professional needs to regularly upgrade and improve his capabilities in view of rapidly changing technologies.