An introduction to ATM technology and its applications

ATM is a relatively new communications transport and switching technology. With ATM, all types of communications use short 53-byte "cells", constructed according to standardized rules. ATM networks are inherently capable of handling a virtually arbitrary mix of data, video, voice, and other communications at high and low rates. ATM technology has been in laboratories for years, and it has taken a shift in network requirements to bring it to its current level of interest. From the view of the internetworking industry, ATM is the best technology for building global, scaleable, manageable networks. At the same time the prospects for new services such as multimedia and Video-on-Demand are also well served by this common technology. ATM is now seeing application in LAN internetworking, with deployment in systems down to the home planned in the near future.