System interconnection architectures for multimedia server

Processor and memory performance is expected to double every 1-2 years. However, the network and storage I/O subsystems has not kept pace. At the same time, the demand for I/O continues to grow, especially for applications such as multimedia. As a result, the I/O subsystems limit the overall system response time. Existing servers are not designed for handling multimedia traffic and effectively delivering the high bandwidth of the network to the processor boards. Extending asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) into the server as the interconnect fabric and communication architecture will alleviate this problem. This solution is further analyzed and simulation results is reported.