Written by: David LeCorney, Magnus Enderin, Mikael Lindberg and Tomas Lundqvist

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Thanks primarily to an architecture that was developed to support change, the AXE exchange continues to evolve. Its architecture and modularity have benefited customers—AXE has served as local exchanges and international exchanges, and even in mobile networks to provide mobile switching centers (MSC), home location registers (HLR), and other functions. This has resulted in a total number of about 13,000 exchanges and an all-time-high growth rate. The modularity of AXE makes it possible to add new functionality in a cost-effective way, but hardware and software R&D must also make the most of new technologies.

This article describes recent adaptations of hardware and software that will prepare AXE for the next generation of networks. The authors focus on a system architecture that will serve as the basis for migration toward a server-gateway architecture for third-generation mobile networks and the next generation of multiservice networks. Adaptations will also enable improvements in existing networks where traffic is growing quickly.

[First published in Ericsson Review no. 01, 2001]