ECOLE: an ATM based environment for distributed learning

ECOLE and HIPERNET are two research and development projects sponsored by the European Community to create a prototype system for distributed cooperative learning based on personal computers and state of the art networking technology. During the first two years of the ECOLE project, the IBM European Networking Center developed a multimedia communication system supporting existing local area (Ethernet, token ring) and wide area (ISDN) networks. A 1994 a prototype communication system is being designed and implemented that will be able to support broadband ISDN (ATM) as part of the ECOLE and HIPERNET network infrastructure. This paper reports on architectural and implementation issues to be considered when migrating towards this high performance communication system. Key technical parameters of the end user applications demanding these high speed network services are given and technical requirements imposed upon the communication subsystem are derived from these figures. Potential system bottlenecks are identified and technical options to improve the performance are proposed.