ISDN is a pretty common term and anyone who has even the remotest of associations with digital telephone systems would have come across this term. ISDN, which stands for Integrated Systems Digital Network, is a telephone systems network, which has now become the benchmark the world over.

So, how is ISDN different from the standards that were there in the industry before it came about? Well, simply put, ISDN allows both voice and data signals to be integrated on the same line for transmissions. Earlier, the telephone systems, on the contrary, were used only for transferring voice signals.

Primarily a circuit switched network, ISDN also supports packet switched networks, which make it great for transferring data signals. The circuit and packet switching result in improved data and voice transmission over ordinary copper wires. The quality of voice transmitted over ISDN networks is considerably better than analog networks- thus making ISDN networks a favorite amongst buyers.