ATM traffic management considerations for facilitating broadband access

Traffic management in ATM nodes plays a key role in providing the capability to support a wide range of integrated services while utilizing network resources, such as buffer space and bandwidth, in an efficient manner. In many cases, the issues arising in ATM access devices are very similar to those encountered in larger ATM backbone nodes. In this article, major issues in the design of traffic management schemes are discussed. These include switch fabric design, buffering strategies, service scheduling disciplines, usage parameter control, buffer management schemes, call admission control, and feedback flow control.