A VLSIC for the ATM switching system

The Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is considered the most appropriate switching technique for broadband ISDN because of its bandwidth flexibility and time transparency. We have fabricated an ATM switching IC which has a throughput of 1.2 Ghps and uses a Bi-CMOS RAM and logic gate array. This paper describes use of this IC in a ATM switching system which require high-speed and high- throughput. The the architecture and basic function blocks composing the ATM switching system are discussed. Cells buffering resolve the outlet contention is shown to be a common function. The functional and performance requirements for the IC are discussed from the viewpoint of high-speed operation. The configuration and performance of the IC and an ATM switch implementation using the IC are shown.