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Table of Contents:

Definition and Overview

1. Executive Summary

2. End-User Requirements

3. Service Provider Requirements

4. What Is ATM?

5. What Is SONET/SDH?

6. Transporting IP over ATM

7. Transporting IP over SONET/SDH

8. IP over ATM and PoS—How Do They Compare?

9. Multiservices Networks

10. Related Technologies

11. Conclusions

Self-Test

Glossary

PDF of this tutorial

Definition
Internet protocol (IP) internetworking transport is the process by which IP traffic is transported across a wide-area network (WAN) providing connectivity for geographically distributed hosts or local-area networks (LANs).

Overview
One of the biggest opportunities for service providers today is to provide IP–based internetworking services to meet the exponential growth in demand from both business and residential customers. With this opportunity comes a number of issues that must be resolved in order to meet capacity requirements and deliver services in a cost-effective and revenue-generating manner. Two of the most frequently considered options for providing IP transport include IP over point-to-point protocol (PPP) over synchronous optical network/synchronous digital hierarchy (SONET/SDH) (sometimes referred to as packet over SONET/SDH [PoS]) and IP over asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) over SONET/SDH (IP over ATM). This tutorial examines these alternatives and presents the benefits of each. With this knowledge, service providers can make better-informed decisions about which technology best suits their requirements and where it is most appropriate to deploy each solution.