Utilization

ATM has been proven that it can be successfully running over

backbone networks and WANs. However, most users are connecting
from LANs. ATM has to be able to coexist with numerous types of
LANs well in order to utilize its advantageous ability. "For ATM to
succeed, it must enable LAN devices to communicate over an ATM
network. LAN and ATM protocols have vast differences. LANs use
variable packet lengths, the shortest of which is still much longer than
ATM's cells. LANs are connectionless with long addresses; ATM is
connection-oriented with path and connection indicators in lieu of
addresses. The task of LAN emulation is to make the two protocols
coexist without involving the user in delays or forcing a change of
network interface cards. These services are enabled by using a LAN
emulation client (LEC)" (Green, 1997, p.777).

Despite LAN emulation clients, there is another way to cope with the
differences between heterogeneous networks. When transmitting
messages from a LAN to another homogeneous LAN through an
ATM backbone network, MAN, or WAN, a packet from the sending
LAN can be treated as pure data and encapsulated with ATM "coats"
so that it can be transmitted safe and sound. The gateway of the
receiving LAN only has to get rid of the coats and reassemble the
packet. The transmission may waste lots of bandwidths but it is an
easy way to implement the conversion and can speed up the
processing at gateways.

Main ATM utilization is still on large scale networks such as

backbone network or MANs. Some examples have shown that ATM
technology is especially suitable in some particular areas and in some
environment. Here are two.

The first fiber network in the States to deliver information at the B-

ISDN rate of 622 M bps utilizing ATM technology was the North
Carolina Information Highway (NCIH) (Niswander, 1996, pp.2-3).
This project was to explore the educational opportunities presented by
B-ISDN and ATM technologies. It provided B-ISDN capabilities to
three sites in North Carolina via ATM switches and supported 3D
graphics and computer-generated modeling to assist doctors in
planning radiation therapy. By late 1994, the sites accessing the
network increased from three to thirty. The network has facilitated
education, health care, criminal justice, economic development, and
government efficiency.

Another example of ATM utilization for educational purpose was the

distance learning network in Iowa ("Iowa taps", 1994). The network
was planned for 3,000 sites to transport full-motion video, audio, and
data communications. The plan spread over every county in the state
and at least one classroom is connected to the network in each county.

The common point of the aforementioned examples is that they all

used ATM networks to support their educational activities or other
activities that have a large amount of video, audio, and data
communications. This pointed out that ATM, indeed, integrates
different types of transmission well. Its high speed performance also
offers the capability of handling high-bandwidth-required stream like
live video.

Armbruster listed several benefits in 1995 that can be provided by

utilizing ATM on B-ISDN. They are:

 Fewer uncertainties and mistakes on the part of users as

necessary information will be available just in time and just in
place.
 Improved telesurveillance, telecontrol, security, and risk
minimization.

 Flexibility concerning hours, location, and the organization of

work.

 Reduced travel costs.

 Improved customer relations and quicker time to market.
 Common utilization of information.
 Better support through three-dimensional visualization and
demonstration.

 Immediate advice from central experts.

ATM is not yet widely accepted for several reasons. One of the major
obstacle is its high replacement fee for the equipment. ATM takes a
completely different approach to achieve message transmission, which
 results in its incompatibility in hardware. For not so many vendors
supply the equipment so far, the hardware is relatively expensive.
Once the supplies are abundant, ATM networks may be as popular as
today's 10M bps Ethernet.

ATM - Asynchronous Transfer Mode 61

Most important disadvantage: two cells may converge towards
the same output:
o One cell will be admitted to that output
o The other cell will be lead again through the switch
Þ This produces some extra time delay!
Multicast or broadcast transmission must be detected at the
switches’ input Þ
then, the cell will be conducted to a group, or to all outputs

ATM is brought to the PC (end user!)

Connections between end users are realized by means of Virtual
Circuits (VCs) Þ
· best usage of the links’ capacity
· VCs can provide a guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS)
ATM is based on high-speed, reliable layer 1 technology:
· SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy)
· SONET (Synchronous Optical Network)
· PDH (Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy)
· DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing)
Controls: responsibility of the end users!
Þ One has to foresee a reliable protocol above ATM!
Via one single interface, the users have the opportunity to
foresee more that one logical connection at the same time

20 Applications
ATM will be used for a lot of applications, from the public world to
LAN environments
In the first place, it provides transmissions
o in different service classes
o over a large distance
In private environments:
ATM switches offer an alternative for other kinds of switches or
routers
Also used to interconnect Ethernet segments
Application examples: figures 25 through 29
ATM switch used as a so called LAN core
Þ ATM switch functions as a superhighway LAN
Also called: point-to-point LAN or LAN-per-port
One could say that the ATM switch replaces a backbone network
Þ switched LAN
Scheme of an ATM workgroup
Þ ATM to the desktop
Used by several kinds of equipment that require high-speed
transmission
E.g.: developments (simulations) in aerospace applications
Very high-speed interconnection of
o different kinds of networks
o eventually also with the outside world (e.g. the Internet)
Emulation of LANs (LANE or LAN Emulation)
IEEE 802.X frames will be:
o packed in an appropriate way
o transmitted with the help of ATM cells
ATM end users are connected to the switch
Those ATM devices must be able to emulate IEEE 802.X
Preferably, they should be able to support a lot of protocols
(multi-protocol)
ATM is also usable for LAN-to-LAN interconnections:
o through the use of routers
o offering the LANs the opportunity to exchange data
o in a transparent way
o using the TCP/IP protocol suite
ATM data transport is based on the IETF recommendations:
(IETF: Internet Engineering Task Force)
· RFC 1483
Encapsulation for different kinds of frames
like IEEE 802.X frames
Prior to the transmission via ATM
Þ Multi-Protocol-over-ATM AAL 5 (MPOA)
· RFC 1577
Transmission of
o classical IP (Classical IP or CIP) and
o ARP
over ATM AAL 5
http://www.dee.isep.ipp.pt/erasmus/ATM-slides.PDF

ATM is relatively new technology, and only a few suppliers provide the
equipment necessary to support it. (ATM networks must use ATM-
compatible switches, routers, and other connectivity devices.)

Other networks, such as a routed Ethernet, require a six-byte physical

address as well as a network address to uniquely identify each device on an
internetwork. An ATM can switch cells with three-byte identifiers because
VPIs and VCIs apply only to a given device-to-device link. Each ATM
switch can assign different VPIs and VCIs for each link, and up to 16
million circuits can be configured for any given device-to-device link.

Although ATM was developed primarily as a WAN technology, it has many

characteristics of value for high-performance LANs. An interesting
advantage of ATM is that ATM makes it possible to use the same
technology for both LANs and WANs. Some disadvantages, however,
include the cost, the limited availability of the equipment, and the present
lack of expertise regarding ATM due to its recent arrival.

ALTERNATIVES
http://www.measureup.com/testobjects/MS_NetEss/5a79371.htm
Two other evolving technologies show promise:
 Synchronous Optical Network (SONET). Bell Communications
Research developed SONET, which has been accepted as an ANSI
standard. As the “optical” in the name implies, SONET is a standard
for communication over fiber-optic networks. Data rates for SONET
are organized in a hierarchy based on the Optical Carrier (OC) speed
and the corresponding Synchronous Transport Signals (STS)
employed. The basic OC and STS data rate is 51.84 Mbps, but higher
data rates are provided in multiples of the basic rate. Thus OC-48 is
48 X 51.84 Mbps or 2488.32 Mbps.
 Switched Multimegabit Digital Service (SMDS). Developed by Bell
Communications Research in 1991, SMDS technology is related to
ATM in that it transports data in 53-byte cells. SMDS (see Figure
7.12) is a connectionless Data Link layer service that supports cell
switching at data rates of 1.544 to 45 Mbps. IEEE 802.6 (DQDB
metropolitan area network) is the primary Physical layer standard
 employed with SMDS, although other Physical layer standards are
supported.

ATM Logical Connections

.Virtual channel connections (VCC)
.Analogous to virtual circuit in X. 25
.Basic unit of switching
.Between two end users
.Full duplex
.Fixed size cells
.Data, user- network exchange (control) and
network- network exchange (network
management and routing)
.Virtual path connection (VPC)

.Bundle of VCC with same end points

ATM INTEGRATES MULITPLE SERVICES AND THEROFRE WAS

NOT OPTIMIZED TO TRANSPORT A SINGLE SERVICE SUCH AS IP
ONLY. A CLEAR EXAMPLE IS THE CELL TAX

http://www.ecsl.cs.sunysb.edu/~srikant/papers/comparison.pdf

ATM Applications

Initially ATM will be utilized as the backbone to campus and wide area networks.
Prices are currently prohibitive in implementing ATM on the local area level. As
prices decrease ATM will be implemented into an integrated LAN and WAN
integrated network with a variety of applications.

ATM is well suited for businesses and organizations whose data transmission
needs are expanding to include multimedia real-time video and audio. ATM is
capable of working with multimedia applications, workgroup computing,
videoconferencing, and imaging applications.

Multimedia applications include conducting realistic simulations, virtual reality

design testing, video brochures, tele-education, tele-science, tele-medicine, and
video on demand. ATM’s capability to handle both CBR and VBR full duplex
traffic provides the basis using ATM in multimedia applications. Creating realistic
simulations and virtual reality designs involves high quality imagery, audio, and
data transport. Video brochures transported over ATM will provide a full
compliment of information in multimedia form.

Virtual reality (VR) applications of ATM are very diverse. Manipulation of

molecules for developing nanotechnology devices and chemical systems, shared
surgical inventories, exploration of networked databases and digital libraries for
learning and research, modeling simulation and analyses, scientific and technical
visualization applications, prototyping and planning, and training for and
monitoring of complex human-computer tasks.

Workgroup computing consists of real-time cooperative design and engineering

projects over a wide area. Examples include multimedia blackboard and screen
sharing and collaborative projects. Workgroup computing is a fast growing area
with applications in the areas of design and management. Combined with VR,
the automotive industry is experimenting with ATM networks to facilitate 3D
design of new vehicles with engineers at several different sites throughout the
world working on the same project. The scientific community is interested in
combining the technological know-how of professors, researchers, and corporate
engineers world wide to attack a specific problem. ATM facilitates this process by
providing an efficient and versatile transport mechanism for the high data rate
interactive communications required.

High Definition Television (HDTV) at anywhere from over 622.08 Mbps is another
promising application for ATM. Several cable companies are investigating the
use of ATM to deliver both standard and HDTV through the existing coax cable
infrastructure. ATM would allow for the introduction of interactive capabilities with
the subscriber. The cable box would become a tool for requesting specific
programming, paying bills, or even integrated to provide local phone service. The
ATM network would provide high bandwidth high speed interactive access
between the cable plant and the home. Users could participate in game shows by
utilizing handheld devices hooked into the cable box to register their answers.
Answers would be sent back to the cable plant on the local ATM loop and then
placed into a wide area ATM network connecting all cable plants. The major
networks like NBC, CBS, ABC, Discovery Channel, ESPN, etc. will deliver their
programming to the local cable companies by wide area ATM networks. They will
also solicit feedback from the local cable plant on how many people are watching
their channel at a given time, game show responses, etc.

The same concept for cable distribution will apply to first run movie distribution to
theaters worldwide. ATMs high bandwidth and capability of delivering steady
data rates make it the optimal system to deliver high quality movies to theaters.
Companies like f/x technologies are already developing ATM backbone networks
to deliver movies to theaters [FX95].

A cinema of the future network is in development and currently connects seven

United Artists Theater by an ATM network (Figure 3). An HDTV video encoder
located at the source of the programming compresses the video to 44.736 Mbps
for transport over the ATM/SONET telephone network to movie theaters where a
decoder reverses the process for display on a HDTV projector. A widespread
implementation of the Cinema of the Future Network could save over $1 billion/yr
used to reproduce movies and distribute them.

Resources
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