An experimental ATM infrastructure

ATM is a key element of a broadband multi-service network and the variety of standards make modular design an essential feature. The paper outlines an experiment carried out under the RACE Programme and describes the flexible 'Canton' ATM switch which was developed, in conjunction with an EISA-based ATM card, to provide the experiment with the necessary networking infrastructure. This low-cost switch has a port-to-port rate of up to 200 Mbps, with each input and output port having an 8-bit data path. The switch fabric is implemented as a small crossbar array on a single FPGA chip and supports several different transmission schemes in a modular fashion. The switch also supports a transputer link interface which allows a number of low-speed lines to be multiplexed on a single port.<
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