Broadband applications and services prospectus

Not too long ago, network traffic was almost entirely comprised of voice or voice-grade traffic. Today, networks must support a rapidly growing percentage of several different kinds of high-bandwidth or broadband traffic — data, image, and video — in addition to conventional voice traffic. There are several factors that create the demand for these new capabilities. Telecommunication customers want faster performance, better quality, customization, lower costs, and an ever increasing variety of advanced information services. For network-service providers, increasing competition requires an accentuated focus on providing timely, reliable, flexible, and evolvable information-network services. But, while network-service providers require new networking technologies to enable the deployment of advanced services, they must also increase network efficiencies to maintain control of their operating expenses. How might asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology be used to address these needs? This paper discusses some of the expected broadband applications and services enabled with ATM technology, as well as applications and services involving more than a 1-Mbit/s peak transport capability. In addition, the prospects for broadband services and applications deployment are also presented.