Dire Dawa University

Dire Dawa Institute of Technology

School of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Communication Stream
Switching and Intelligent Network

Term Paper of ATM

By:

Eyob Tesfaye R/0678/06

Mesfin Lire R/1116/06

Biniyam Azale R/0477/06

Kalkidan Shewangizaw R/0939/06

Summited to :- Mr H/mariam
 Term paper of ATM

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to summarize the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology
and determine where it is in its evolutionary development. Technologies that fragment data into
small pieces typically have very poor performance because there is no mechanism to detect and
retransmit lost cells when a piece of the data is lost in transit. The only way to recover the
damaged cell is to retransmit the entire large packet again. An alternative to inefficiently
retransmitting the entire packet is to only retransmit the individual cells that are lost or damaged.
The ATM technology incorporates the ability to retransmit only the cells in each packet that
were not received properly. It also enhances transmission performance by reducing flow control
activity required at each network link. Surveying recent products serves as an effective
barometer for determining how the ATM technology is evolving. State-of-the-market ATM
products indicate that an ATM design solution provides unmatched speed, fault-tolerance, and
scalability through multiple, meshed inter-switch connections that support load-sharing across
networks.
At its current point in evolutionary technological development, ATM is a key enabling
communications technology that will introduce new applications to users and network providers,
as well as provide higher bandwidth capacity to networks. Because of its high-bandwidth
capacity and cell-oriented architecture, ATM is the dominant infrastructure for delivering
virtually all types of communications, including data, voice, image, and multimedia, into the
buildings and desktops of users around the world. By carefully considering critical performance
issues, and accommodating existing legacy systems during ATM implementations, the
telecommunications industry has insured that ATM will not only be the design solution of the
future, but that it can provide cost effective applications today as well.

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Executive summary

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology
and determine where it is in its evolutionary development. Technologies that fragment data into
small pieces typically have very poor performance because there is no mechanism to detect and
retransmit lost cells when a piece of the data is lost in transit. The only way to recover the
damaged cell is to retransmit the entire large packet again. An alternative to inefficiently
retransmitting the entire packet is to only retransmit the individual cells that are lost or damaged.
The ATM technology incorporates the ability to retransmit only the cells in each packet that
were not received properly. It also enhances transmission performance by reducing flow control
activity required at each network link.
ATM redefines the basic unit of LAN data transportation. Variable length packets are replaced
by short, fixed length, cells that can carry voice, video, and data at very high speeds. ATM
technology has the potential to redefine the networking industry and cause a literal paradigm
shift in the way networks are built. Despite these potential advances in ATM technology,
however, market forces determine how these new technologies will be implemented. If a
business case for “productizing” the technology cannot be made, then industry will not have
access to it. When a business case can be made, state-of-the-market capabilities will increase
with the expansion of ATM technology. Therefore, surveying recent products serves as an
effective barometer for determining how the ATM technology is evolving. State-of-the-market
ATM products indicate that an ATM design solution provides unmatched fault-tolerance and
scalability through multiple, meshed inter-switch connections that support load-sharing across
networks. Speeds of 155 Mbps (OC-3), 622 Mbps (OC-12), and 2.5 Gbps (OC-48) can be
achieved with ATM to eliminate network bottlenecks and offer superior throughput. ATM can
support multimedia transfers including data, video and voice traffic on one network.
Lower overall costs of ownership results since only a single network need to be maintained and
managed. Current ATM implementations include intercontinental networking, inverse
multiplexing over ATM (IMA) applications, medical remote videoconferencing and consultation
across continents, educational distance learning applications, broadband network applications
such as the information super highway, and applications that connect two or more wide are
networks together.

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Contents
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... i
Executive summary ................................................................................................................................... ii
List of Figure ............................................................................................................................................. iv
Chapter one .................................................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1
1.2 OBJECTIVES ......................................................................................................................................... 2
1.3 Methodology....................................................................................................................................... 2
1.4 Scope of Work ..................................................................................................................................... 2
1.5 Approach taken ................................................................................................................................... 2
Chapter two .................................................................................................................................................. 3
2. Theory ................................................................................................................................................... 3
2.1 ATM Technology ................................................................................................................................. 3
2.2 Basic concept and working principles ................................................................................................. 4
2.2.1 Information transfer in virtual channel........................................................................................ 4
2.2.2 Routing methodology .................................................................................................................. 5
2.2.3 ATM Resources ............................................................................................................................ 5
2.2.4 ATM cell identifier ........................................................................................................................ 5
2.2.5 Throughput parameter ................................................................................................................ 5
2.2.6 QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS) Parameter ....................................................................................... 6
2.2.7 Usage parameter control function............................................................................................... 6
2.2.8 General flow control function ...................................................................................................... 6
2.2.9 Basic Working Principle ................................................................................................................ 6
2.3 ATM PROTOCOLS AND STANDARDS ................................................................................................... 8
2.3.1 ATM LAYER ................................................................................................................................... 9
2.3.2 PHYSICAL LAYER ........................................................................................................................... 9
2.3.3 ROUTING PROTOCOLS ............................................................................................................... 10
2.3.4 ATM SWITCHING ........................................................................................................................ 10
2.3.5 ATM SIGNALING ......................................................................................................................... 11
2.3.6 IMPLEMENTING THE ATM DESIGN SOLUTION........................................................................... 11
2.3.7 REQUIREMENTS FOR IMPLEMENTING AN ATM SOLUTION ....................................................... 11
2.4 ATM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ........................................................................................................ 12

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2.4.1 AVAILABLE ATM PRODUCTS....................................................................................................... 12

2.4.2 ATM ACCESS CONCENTRATORS ................................................................................................. 13
2.5 ATM APPLICATIONS AND MANAGEMENT CASESTUDIES .................................................................. 14
2.5.1 MEDICAL APPLICATIONS ............................................................................................................ 14
2.5.2 EDUCATIONAL APPLICATIONS.................................................................................................... 14
2.5.3 SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS .......................................................................................................... 14
2.6 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................... 15
2.8 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................... 16

List of Figure
Fig.2.1 Basic ATM Cell Structure ................................................................................................................... 4
Fig.2.2 BISDN Protocol Reference Model ..................................................................................................... 8
Fig.2.3 Access Builder 9600 ATM Access Concentrator .............................................................................. 13

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Chapter one

1.1 Introduction
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), which is widely considered the next generation of
networking technology, brings new meaning to high-speed networking. It promises to be the key
enabling technology for already emerging applications in fields like science, medicine, and
education. Because of a dramatic change in the constraints normally associated with data
transmission across networks, the implementing applications that will take advantage of ATM
are just starting to surface. The potential for operating organizations to develop re-engineered
business processes to take advantage of the higher data transmission speeds, as well as the
integration of voice, data, and video files, are enormous and transcend into all market areas. As a
result, it seems that monitoring the progress of the ATM technology as it evolves into the various
market areas is worthwhile goal. This paper addresses this goal. [3]
ATM consists of a suite of communication protocols designed to support integrated voice and
data networks. These protocols are capable of providing a homogeneous network for all traffic
data types. ATM transmits voice, data, and video at speeds of more than 600 Mbps. There are
standards in place today to implement ATM over OC-11 at 51.48 Mbps, up to OC-482 at 2.488
Gbps. It enables dynamic and transparent connectivity to join LANs and WANs [2]. It also
integrates private and public sub-networks, supports applications requiring high transmission
speeds, large transmission capacities, and bandwidth on demand, provides for effective network
management, and does so at affordable costs.
ATM was initially developed as an industry standard for wide-area broadband networks.
Through simplified packet-switching techniques, ATM segments packets into small cells, and
switches them onto paths operating at up to gigabit-per-second transmission speeds.
It’s technology is based on these small, constant-sized cells that permit sufficiently rapid
switching and enables multiple isochronous data to be statistically multiplexed together. Thus, a
communications channel will no longer be limited to a fixed data rate because of time-division
multiplexing protocols, but rather, any application can use the amount of bandwidth it requires.

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1.2 OBJECTIVES

 The purpose of this paper is not to expand the edge of ATM technology,
 To summarize that technology and define where it is today.
 Defining the ATM technology and where it is today is no trivial task
 To describe ATM technology concepts
 To identify and describe ATM protocols

1.3 Methodology
 Studied the relevant literature material available on the topic.
 Information on ATM network from different sources.

1.4 Scope of Work

 This term paper is limited to investigate, to deal in detail about asynchronous transfer
mode and provide a reference for study’s if taken in our universities i.e. either in final
project or mini projects.
 To discuss available ATM products and define the state-of-the-market for ATM
 To describe recent ATM applications and management case studies to define typical
ways to implement ATM

1.5 Approach taken

The approach taken to defining the current state of ATM technology involved conducting a
review phase, an observations and assessment phase, and drawing conclusions based on the
noted observations. The review phase required researching ATM technology, reviewing
available product information off of the World Wide Web, and reviewing networking literature
including articles on ATM applications, and management case studies. After successfully
identifying and reviewing information on the evolving ATM technology, observations were
noted concerning available ATM products, services, and implementing topologies. Based on
these observations, conclusions were drawn concerning the current status of ATM applications
and technology.

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Chapter two

2. Theory

2.1 ATM Technology

ATM provides high-speed switching of data packets. ATM is a best effort delivery system that
relies on flow control to provide performance enhancements. The transmission process begins
when a block of data is sent to a recipient. The data is broken into 48-byte data packets for
transmission, with five bytes of control data appended to the 48-byte data packets in a control
header. As a result, a 53-byte transmission frame is formed3. The reason for such a short cell
length is ATM must deliver real time service at low bit rates and thus it minimizes packetization
delay4. These 53-byte frames are transmitted to recipients, where the 5-byte control data is
stripped and the message is reassembled. Sequences of cells in an ATM connection are received
in the same order that they were transmitted. ATM therefore guarantees that cells will not be
disordered. [4]
The fundamental elements of ATM were created by researchers at AT&T’s Bell Laboratories,
and France’s Telecom Research Center, in the early 1980s. Fast packet switches differ from
X.25-like packet-switching because they minimize storing, processing, and storing activities
required at each link. Error and flow control, for example, are performed on an end-to-end, rather
than on a link-by-link basis. By reducing the activities at each link, ATM makes additional
throughput possible. Subramanian (1995) discussed the benefits of ATM in a paper studying the
tradeoff of choosing different Application Program Interfaces (APIs). In that paper he stated:
“ATM is a cell-switching and multiplexing technology designed to combine the benefits of
circuit switching (constant transmission delay, guaranteed capacity) with those of packet
switching (flexibility, efficiency of intermittent traffic). Technologies that fragment data into
small pieces can have disastrously low performance if any of the pieces are lost in transit.
Because there usually is no mechanism in the cell network to detect and retransmit lost cells, the
only way to recover the damaged packet is to retransmit the entire large packet again. [2] Thus
two copies of the packet will be sent because a single cell was lost. The throughput of the
network is considerably reduced. One alternative to re-transmitting the entire packet is to
retransmit the individual cells that are lost. However, as noted previously, cell network designs
assume that cells will not be retransmitted. This is because the retransmission scheme requires

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that each cell is uniquely tagged, typically with a sequence number, so the receiver can request a
particular cell be retransmitted and the transmitter can properly identify the cell it is to
retransmit. Unfortunately, at gigabit rates, a sequence number would need to about 8 bytes long.
ATM has the potential to remove the performance bottlenecks in today's LANs and WANs. It
redefines the basic unit of LAN data transportation. Variable length packets are replaced by
short, fixed length, cells that can carry voice, video, and data at very high speeds. [1] ATM has
the potential to redefine the networking industry and cause a literal paradigm shift in the way
networks are built and used5.” The performance enhancements that result from the application of
ATM technology, therefore, results from improved flow control achieved by reducing the
activity required at each link, compatibility with protocol standards that enable transmission of
voice, data, and video, and from the ability to retransmit only the cells in each packet that were
not received properly. These performance enhancements can be demonstrated by comparing
ATM to other transmission modes, such as Synchronous Transfer Mode (STM). [4]

2.2 Basic concept and working principles

There are several basic networking concepts that must be understood to fully understand the
ATM technology. They are addressed in the subsections below.

2.2.1 Information transfer in virtual channel

ATM concerns information transfer in virtual circuits. It is a fast packet oriented transfer mode
based on asynchronous time division multiplexing and uses fixed length cells. A cell header
identifies cells that belong to the same virtual channel. Virtual channels are relied on to define
the appropriate end-to-end routing path. The cell sequence integrity in each virtual channel is
maintained via the path information in the cell header. [3]

Fig.2.1 Basic ATM Cell Structure

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2.2.2 Routing methodology

ATM relies on a connection-oriented routing mode. Header values, such as the virtual channel
identifier (VCI) and the virtual path identifier (VPI) depicted in Figure 3-2, are assigned during
the connection set up phase and translated when switched from one link to another. Signaling
information is carried on a virtual channel separated from the user information. [2] ATM routing
relies on two types of connections: a virtual channel connection (VCC), and a virtual path
connection (VPC). A VPC is an aggregate of multiple VCCs. Switching on cells is first done on
the VPC, and then on the VCC.

2.2.3 ATM Resources

As stated above, ATM is connection-oriented. These resources, which are typically expressed in
terms of throughput and quality of service, can be negotiated between user and network either
before the call-set up or during the call. Establishment of connections, therefore, is relied on to
allocate network resources. ATM allocates resources via the VCI, and the VPI, in the cell header
as depicted in Figure 3-2. It also includes the allocation of the resources required to enable user
access inside the network.

2.2.4 ATM cell identifier

ATM technology relies on cell identifiers, such as the VPI and VCI discussed above, as well as a
payload type identifier (PTI). They are used to recognize an ATM cell on a physical transmission
medium. The cell identifiers enable the creation of an end-to-end virtual path for the entire
duration of the transmission.

2.2.5 Throughput parameter

An ATM implementation optimizes throughput. Throughput is a networking parameter that can
be measured by the peak cell rate (PCR). It is defined as the inverse of the minimum inter-arrival
time, T, between two consecutive basic events. T is the peak emission interval of the ATM
connection. PCR applies to both constant bit rate (CBR), and variable bit rate (VBR) services for
ATM connections. It is an upper bound of the cell rate of an ATM connection and there is
another parameter, the sustainable cell rate (SCR), which the ATM network monitors to enable it
to allocate resources more efficiently. [4]

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2.2.6 QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS) Parameter

ATM monitors Quality of Service (QOS) parameters such as cell loss, delay, and delay variation,
incurred by the cells belonging to the connection in an ATM network. QOS parameters can be
either specified explicitly by the user or implicitly associated with specific service requests. A
limited number of specific QOS classes are becoming standardized in practice.

2.2.7 Usage parameter control function

In ATM, excessive reservation of resources by one user degrades traffic performance for other
users. The throughput must, therefore, be policed at the user-network interface by monitoring a
usage parameter. A usage parameter control function in the network accomplishes this and
ensures that the negotiated connection parameters for the VCC or VPC between the network and
the user are maintained. Traffic parameters, which may be defined in the contract, describe the
desired throughput and QOS. These traffic parameters are to be monitored in real time at the
arrival of each cell. A check of the peak cell rate (PCR) of the high priority cell flow, and a
check of the aggregate cell flow, is recommended for each virtual connection.

2.2.8 General flow control function

To control the flow of traffic on ATM connections from a terminal or workstation to a network, a
general flow control (GFC) function at the User-to-Network Interface (UNI) is implemented.
The function is represented by the GFC field in the ATM cell header, as depicted in Figure 3-2.
The GFC function, as defined in the GFC field, provides the capability to establish two sets of
flow control procedures. The first, an uncontrolled transmission procedure, is for use in point-to-
point configurations. The second, a controlled transmission procedure, can be used in both point-
to-point and shared medium configurations.

2.2.9 Basic Working Principle

Various network applications are requiring increasingly higher bandwidth and generating a
heterogeneous mix of network traffic. Existing networks cannot provide the transport facilities to
efficiently support a diversity of traffic with various service requirements. ATM was designed to
be potentially capable of supporting heterogeneous traffic (e.g., voice, video, data) in one
transmission and switching fabric technology. It promised to provide greater integration of
capabilities and services, more flexible access to the network, and more efficient and economical
service.

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ATM is a switching and multiplexing technology that employs small, fixed-length packets
(called cells). Each cell has 5 bytes of header information and a 48-byte information field
(payload). The reason for choosing a fixed-size packet was to ensure that the switching and
multiplexing function could be carried out quickly, easily, and with least delay variation. The
reason for choosing a small size cell was mainly a result of the need to support delay-intolerant
interactive voice service (e.g., phone calls) with a small packetization delay, i.e., the time needed
to fill a cell with PCM (pulse code modulation) encoded voice samples arriving at the rate of 64
Kbps.
ATM is a connection-oriented technology in the sense that before two systems on the network
can communicate, they should inform all intermediate switches about their service requirements
and traffic parameters. This is similar to the telephone networks where a fixed path is set up from
the calling party to the receiving party. In ATM networks, each connection is called a virtual
circuit or virtual channel (VC), because it also allows the capacity of each link to be shared by
connections using that link on a demand basis rather than by fixed allocations. The connections
allow the network to guarantee the quality of service (QoS)by limiting the number of VCs.
Typically, a user declares key service requirements at the time of connection setup, declares the
traffic parameters, and may agree to control these parameters dynamically as demanded by the
network.
ATM was intended to provide a single unified networking standard that could support both
synchronous and asynchronous technologies and services, while offering multiple levels of
quality of service for packet traffic.
ATM sought to resolve the conflict between circuit-switched networks and packet-switched
networks by mapping both bit streams and packet streams onto a stream of small fixed-size
“cells” tagged with virtual circuit identifiers. Cells are typically sent on demand within a
synchronous time slot pattern in a synchronous bit stream: what is asynchronous here is the
sending of the cells, not the low-level bit stream that carries them.
In its original conception, ATM was to be the enabling technology of the “broadband integrated
services digital network” (B-ISDN) that would replace the existing narrowband “integrated
services digital network (ISDN). The full suite of ATM standards provides definitions for layer 1
(physical connections), layer 2 (data link layer), and layer 3 (network) of the classical OSI seven-
layer networking model. Because ATM is asynchronous, it provides true bandwidth-on-demand.

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Additionally, ATM is capable of handling any form of information (e.g., data, voice, video,
audio, e-mail, faxes), moving this information quickly across a network with millions of virtual
paths and channels between end-user equipment ATM allows the user to select the required level
of service, provides guaranteed service quality, and makes reservations and preplans routes so
those transmissions needing the most attention are given the best service.

2.3 ATM PROTOCOLS AND STANDARDS

ATM protocols are standards based. They are coordinated by the ATM Forum, which is an
international non-profit organization formed with the objective of accelerating the use of ATM
products and services through a rapid convergence of interoperability specifications. ATM is
primarily driven by telecommunications companies and is universally accepted as the
telecommunications standard for Broadband ISDN (BISDN). The BISDN Protocol Reference
Model (PRM) is shown in Figure below.

Fig.2.2 BISDN Protocol Reference Model

The BISDN PRM consists of 3 planes: (1) a User Plane for transporting user information; (2) a
Control Plane which contains mainly signaling information for call control, and connection
control functions; and (3) a Management Plane which contains layer management and plane
management functions. The BISDN PRM also identifies three layers, the ATM Adaptation Layer
(AAL), the ATM Layer, and the Physical Layer. There are no defined, or standardized,
relationships between OSI layers and the BISDN ATM PRM layers. The following trends,
however, can be found. The Physical Layer of ATM is similar to Layer 1 of the OSI model, and
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it performs bit level functions. The ATM layer is equivalent to the lower edge of Layer 2. The
ATM Adaptation layer performs the adaptation of OSI higher layer protocols.

2.3.1 ATM LAYER

Operations in the ATM Layer are independent of Physical Layer operations, and are not affected
if an ATM cell is running on fiber, twisted pair, or other media type. The ATM Layer is
organized into the following four major functions.
1. Cell Muxing and Demuxing. This function is responsible for multiplexing cells from various
virtual connections at the originating point, and demultiplexing them at the terminating endpoint.
2. VPI/VCI Processing. This function is responsible for processing the labels and identifiers in a
cell header at each ATM node. ATM virtual connections are created and identified by a virtual
path identifier (VPI) and a virtual channel identifier (VCI).
3. Cell Header Processing. This function creates the cell header at the originating point,
interprets, and translates it at the terminating endpoint. The virtual path endpoint (VPE)/VCI data
may be translated to a service access point (SAP) at the receiving node.
4. Generic Flow Control. This function is responsible for creating the generic flow control field
in the ATM header at the originating point, and acting upon it at the receiving endpoint.

2.3.2 PHYSICAL LAYER

The Physical Layer is responsible for bit transfer and reception, and bit synchronization. It
contains two sub-layers, the Physical Medium (PM) Sub-layer, and the Transmission
Convergence (TC) Sub-layer. PM functions are dependent on the nature of the medium making
the connection, while the TC Sub-layer is responsible for conventional physical layer operations
that are not medium dependent. TC is responsible for the following five functional
capabilities.[3]
1. Transmission Frame Generation and Recovery. This function is responsible for the
generation and recovery of certain protocol data units (PDUs), which are called frames in B-
ISDN.
2. Transmission Frame Adaptation. This function is responsible for placing and extracting the
cell into and out of the Physical Layer frame. The exact operation depends on the type of frame
that is used at the physical layer.

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3. Cell Delineation. This function is responsible for originating an endpoint to define the cell
boundaries in order for the receiving endpoint to recover all cells.
4. Cell Header Processing. This function is responsible for generating a header error control
(HEC) field at the originating point, and processing it at the terminating endpoint to determine if
the cell header was damaged during transmission.
5. Cell Rate Decoupling. This function inserts idle cells at the sending end and extracts them at
the receiving end in order to adapt to the physical level of bandwidth capacity.

2.3.3 ROUTING PROTOCOLS

Routers connect logically separate networks operating under the same transport protocol, such as
the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). This is also a typical ATM
application. Proprietary protocols include the Internetwork Packet eXchange (IPX) used by
Novell’s NetWare, and the Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP) used by Cisco systems.
Open protocols include the Routing Information Protocol (RIP) for use with TCP/IP and the OSI
Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS) protocol. Other protocols include Internet
Activities Board’s Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), DECnet Phase IV, the Open Systems
Interconnection’s (OSI’s) Connectionless Network Services (CLNS) protocol, and Apple
Computer’s Datagram Delivery Protocol (DDP). Among the Interior Gateway Protocols (IGPs)
are RIP and OSPF. Exterior gateways, or routers, pass data packets between autonomous
network systems. The TCP/IP Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP) is an example of this type.

2.3.4 ATM SWITCHING

This section describes, at a top level, generic ATM switching operations. Since ATM is designed
around the concepts of connection-oriented virtual circuits, ATM switching processes must
reflect these design concepts as well. In general, an ATM switch receives a cell on an incoming
port and reads the VCI/VPI value. This value identifies a specific end user for a virtual circuit,
and the outgoing port for the next node that will receive the traffic.[1] The ATM switch then
examines a routing table for the match of the incoming VPI number, and corresponding
incoming port, and matches it with an outgoing VPI number, and corresponding outgoing port.
The header in the outgoing cell is changed with the new VPI value placed in a field of the cell
header. This new VPI value is used by the next ATM switch to perform subsequent routing

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operations. An ATM switch also performs multiplexing functions. Information from input ports
are multiplexed to the outlet ports.

2.3.5 ATM SIGNALING

The signaling functions an ATM network must perform include setting up, maintaining, and
releasing ATM virtual channel connections for information transfer, and negotiating the traffic
characteristics of a connection. They may also support multi-connection calls, and multi-party
calls. Multi-connection calls require the establishment of several connections to set up a
composite call. The composite call is comprised of various types of traffic including voice,
video, image, and data. It also functions to remove one or more connections from the call, and
will add new connections to the existing ones. Thus the network has to correlate the connections
of a call. [4]
In broadband networks, out-of-band messages are conveyed in dedicated virtual channels.
Several different types of virtual channels can be defined at the B-ISDN user-to-network
interface. A “meta-signaling” virtual channel is used to establish, check, and release point-to-
point and selective “broadcast signaling” virtual channels. It is bi-directional and permanent. A
“point-to-point” signaling channel is allocated to a signaling endpoint, but only while the signal
is active. These channels are also bi-directional and are used to establish, control, and release
virtual channel connections to transport user information. In a point-to-multi-point signaling
access configuration, meta-signaling is needed for managing the signaling virtual channels.

2.3.6 IMPLEMENTING THE ATM DESIGN SOLUTION

In many organizations, network modernization is imperative for operational mission success.
Evaluation of technology alternatives, such as a dedicated router network, frame relay
technology, and ATM technology, ensures a design solution tailored to each organization. When
the results of such an analysis are complete, ATM solutions such as the one depicted below are
often the best migration path. They meet both quality of service requirements and cost tradeoffs.
This section addresses the requirement that an ATM design solution must satisfy, and then
discusses typical ways to implement ATM. [3]

2.3.7 REQUIREMENTS FOR IMPLEMENTING AN ATM SOLUTION

The successful adoption of ATM by the telecommunications industry depends more on its ability
to attract users, and to manage migrations of existing applications, than on its potential future

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uses. Networked multimedia may be a significant business requirement of the future, but for
acceptance of ATM within today’s business environment the medium must fulfill today’s basic
needs. It must be capable of applying high-speed network technology to current applications, and
it must do so without undue extra cost or complexity. Consequently, ATM must support LAN
internetworking through robust LAN emulation services. Many internetworking applications,
such as file transfer and Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs), contain highly unpredictable, or
"bursty" transmissions. According to Fijitsu (1997), these applications are less sensitive to
network delay variations than circuit-based applications, but they can be very sensitive to loss of
cells. Although the bandwidth needs are difficult to predict, once ready to transmit they typically
use as much bandwidth as is available13. With the foregoing as background, this sub-section
addresses a number of performance requirements that may affect ATM implementations.
First, transmitting LAN traffic over ATM means reconciling the differences between the frame
and cell packaging of data employed by the different technologies. [2] Because ATM cell sizes
are much smaller than typical LAN frame sizes, any loss of cells due to switch congestion can
cause substantial data loss, and can even lead to "congestion collapse" of the network14. Thus,
there is a critical need to avoid cell loss to maintain network performance.

2.4 ATM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

This section analyzes how recent products and services are implementing ATM technology. As
technological envelops are expanded, state-of-the-market capabilities can be dramatically
increased. Despite potential advances, however, market forces determine how these new
technologies will be implemented. If a technology company cannot make a business case for
“productizing” the technology, then industry will not have access to it. Analyzing recent
products and services, therefore, serves as an effective barometer for determining how the ATM
technology is evolving. [4]

2.4.1 AVAILABLE ATM PRODUCTS

This section describes sample ATM networking products to develop an understanding of their
evolving capabilities. Each section contains representative models that provide a snap-shot with
respect to the products current performance characteristics. It is, therefore, not intended to be
complete product comparison analysis. But rather, merely defines by way of illustration the
state-of-the-market for each equipment type discussed.

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2.4.2 ATM ACCESS CONCENTRATORS

ATM access concentrators are devices that provide WANs with access to ATM networks. They
do so by converting non-ATM traffic into cells. When first introduced, they were simple
multiplexers that aggregated traffic to an ATM uplink. This involved converting traffic to the
appropriate ATM Adaptation Layer and assigning priorities to various traffic streams. Current
versions, however, feature local switching engines to move traffic between local ports on the
box, sophisticated traffic management facilities, and support a wide range of interfaces.
According to Willis (1998), two recently released devices, the ADC Kentrox AAC-3 and 3Com
Access Builder 9600, rise above the pack and support Inverse Multiplexing over ATM (IMA).
IMA is a User-to-Network Interface (UNI) standard recently ratified by the ATM Forum. IMA
can be used over T1 circuits to bridge the broad price and performance gap between T1 and T3
services. With IMA, trunk capacity can be added by installing more T1 circuits, up to a
maximum of eight, at which point a T3 service becomes cost effective. IMA moves ATM cells
across trunks in a cyclic round-robin fashion, so each link is equally loaded. Since IMA must
deliver cells in order, buffers are required to keep traffic moving smoothly. [4] ADC’s AAC-3
and 3Com’s Access Builder 9600 offer nearly identical physical ports and software, support
nearly the same set of standards, offer dual power supplies, and feature hot-swappable cards. In
performance testing Willis (1998) found the 3Com Access Builder outperformed the ADC
Kentrox AAC-3 under load, but rated the ADC higher because it offers more flexibility,
aggressive pricing, and a better management interface. As indicated in Figure below, the Access
Builder 9600 is a six-slot chassis with redundant power supplies and two reserved slots.

Fig.2.3 Access Builder 9600 ATM Access Concentrator

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It can be configured with the STX module, which provides switching between local ports, so
distinguishing between trunk and port modules is not necessary.

2.5 ATM APPLICATIONS AND MANAGEMENT CASESTUDIES

ATM’s high speed networking capabilities will likely become the key enabling networking
technology for emerging applications in the fields of science, medicine, and education. The
following sub-sections illustrate how ATM technology is being implemented today by describing
some sample applications and case studies. [3]

2.5.1 MEDICAL APPLICATIONS

Medical imaging applications include storing and manipulating x-rays, CAT scans, and MRI
images in digital form. Such images need to be accessed simultaneously by multiple physicians.
Transporting them across a network to the physicians requires a great deal of bandwidth, which
ATM technology can provide

2.5.2 EDUCATIONAL APPLICATIONS

With respect to educational applications, distance learning applications are evolving which
enable students to interact with classmates thousands of miles away via videoconferencing. As
an example, the Army National Guard is developing a massive ATM network that will serve as a
voice, video, and data-communications pipeline for troops, as well as for government agencies,
hospitals, schools, and other organizations. [4]

2.5.3 SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS

Future space missions will require the integration of voice, video and data communications at
increasing speeds, and with reduced costs. Such space missions will likely use the NASA Jet
Propulsion Laboratory Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN consists of a space segment and a
ground segment. The ground segment is based on ATM. The integration of the space segment’s
Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS)
protocols with the ATM based ground segment is addressed by Hanson and Murphy (1995).

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2.6 CONCLUSIONS
The development of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) communications networking is a key
enabling communications technology that will introduce new applications to users and network
providers, as well as provide higher bandwidth capacity to the network. Because of its high-
bandwidth capacity and cell-oriented architecture, ATM is expected to be the dominant
infrastructure for delivering virtually all types of communications, including data, voice, image,
and multimedia, into the buildings and desktops of users around the world. By carefully
considering critical performance issues, and accommodating existing legacy systems during
ATM implementations, the telecommunications industry has insured that ATM will not only be
the design solution of the future, but that it can provide cost effective applications today as well.
With an ATM network you can achieve unmatched fault-tolerance and scalability through
multiple, meshed inter-switch connections that support load-sharing across the network. Speeds
of 155 Mbps (OC-3), 622 Mbps (OC-12), and 2.5 Gbps (OC-48) can be achieved with ATM to
eliminate network bottlenecks and offer superior throughput. ATM can support multimedia
transfers including data, video and voice-traffic on one network. Lower overall cost of ownership
results since only a single network needs to be maintained and managed.

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2.8 REFERENCES
[1]Black, Uyless, ATM: Foundation for Broadband Networks, Prentice Hall PTR, Englewood
Cliffs, NJ, ISBN 0-13-297178-X, 1995.
[2]Fabregat-Gesa, Ramon, Marzo-Lazaro, Jose L., Ridao-Rodriquez, Pere (1997), Resource
Dimensioning Aspect of Heterogeneous Traffic With Different Service Requirements:
[3]Fujitsu (1997), Bringing Efficiency and Reliability to ATM, published by the Quantum Flow
Control (QFC) organization at http://www.nexen.com/wpqfc.html.
[4]Hanson, Timothy and Murphy, John (1995), Internetworking Asynchronous Transfer Mode
With The Consultative Committee For Space Data Systems Advanced Orbiting Systems
Protocols, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Advanced Information Systems Section, Pasadena, CA,
June 8, 1995.
[5]Stamper, David A., Business Data Communications, 4th Ed., The Benjamin/Cummings
Publishing Co., Inc., Redwood City, CA, ISBN 0-8053-7715-8, 1994, pg. 116.
Subramanian, Mahesh (1995), Protocol Overhead in ATM Networks, Syracuse

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