Re: worldwide SMDS service?

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Deering's question fits into the current discussion of whether we
should consider SMDS to be providing isolated islands of service or a
global system.  Perhaps the group would benefit from a brief tutorial
on some of the technical details.  Here are the questions along this
line that interest me; others should chime in with theirs.  And
hopefully someone will provide enlightenment...

1. Addressing (Deering's question:) Is there a worldwide numbering
   plan or only a North American plan?  If the plan only covers North
   America, how will North American SMDS systems be interconnected to
   other parts of the world?  If the numbering plan is capable of
   covering the entire world, a short exposition would be helpful.

2. Assignment of numbers: Who's in charge of assignment of numbers?
   Will numbers be tied to existing area codes and central office
   exchanges?  This has consequences for group addressing and mapping
   between IP addresses and SMDS addresses.

3. Routing: How is routing handled?  As I understand it, DQDB "loops"
   are to be tied together at central offices.  Packets will jump from
   one DQDB loop to another within a compound switch.  The switch
   obviously has to have the routing information in it.  What is the
   routing information and what is the routine algorithm?