IP switch over ATM LAN emulation (IP-Express/sup TM/)

ATM is a widespread technology and most of the traffic it carries is from legacy LANs or generated by LAN-oriented software such as TCP/IP. Hence the importance of ATM Forum's LAN emulation protocol (LANE) and multi-protocol over ATM (MPOA) to allow bridging and routing of this traffic over an ATM network. In this article we focus on routing LAN flows among several emulated LANs. A novel technique is investigated whereby routing of incoming LANE-encapsulated frames is performed within an ATM switch by ATM/AAL-level mechanisms based on a dynamic, on-the-fly, IP-aware translation scheme and VC-merge features.