IEC: On-Line Education: WPF: Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Fundamentals

high performance via hardware switching with terabit switches on the horizon
dynamic bandwidth for bursty traffic meeting application needs and delivering high utilization of networking resources; most applications are or can be viewed as inherently bursty; data applications are LAN–based and are very bursty, voice is bursty, as both parties are neither speaking at once nor all the time; video is bursty, as the amount of motion and required resolution varies over time
class-of-service support for multimedia traffic allowing applications with varying throughput and latency requirements to be met on a single network
scalability in speed and network size supporting link speeds of T1/E1 to OC–12 (622 Mbps) today and into the multi–Gbps range before the end of the decade; networks that scale to the size of the telephone network (i.e., as required for residential applications) are envisaged
common LAN/WAN architecture allowing ATM to be used consistently from one desktop to another; traditionally, LAN and WAN technologies have been very different, with implications for performance and interoperability
opportunities for simplification via switched VC architecture; this is particularly for LAN–based traffic that today is connectionless in nature; the simplification possible through ATM VCs could be in areas such as billing, traffic management, security, and configuration management
international standards compliance in central-office and customer-premises environments allowing for multivendor operation

3. ATM Technology >>