|
ATM
ATM is simply a Data Link Layer protocol. It is
asynchronous in the sense that the recurrence of the cells containing
information from an individual user is not necessarily periodic. It is the
technology of choice for evolving B-ISDN (Board Integrated Services
Digital Network), for next generation LANs and WANs. ATM supports
transmission speeds of 155Mbits / sec. In the future. Photonic approaches
have made the advent of ATM switches feasible, and an evolution towards an
all packetized, unified, broadband telecommunications and data
communication world based on ATM is taking place.
. Synchronous Transfer Mode (STM) was the first
technique to be considered due to its compatibility with most existing
systems and the desire to preserve the investment in existing equipment
while evolving to a more flexible network.
ATM has been proposed to overcome the limitations of
STM and the large delay incurred by conventional packet switching. ATM is
one of the general classes of digital packet technologies that relay and
route traffic by means of an address contained within the packet. What
makes packet technologies attractive for data traffic is that they exploit
communication channels much more efficiently than the STM technologies
common used to transmit digitized voice
|