Using an ATM interconnect as a high performance I/O backplanet

We present the design-of an ATM-based interconnect that serves as a high speed packet-switched equivalent of an IVO bus in a workstation/server. By effectively "mending" an external ATM network into the desk-area, the intwconnect also functions as a high performance host-network interface. The prototype interconnect, which we are building as part of an ARPA sponsored gigabit local ATM testbed, boasts an aggregate sustained bidirectional data rate in excess of a gigabit per second. 'Me interconnect design, which is targewd specifically for multimedia workstations/servers, employs a single custom vi-si chip called the ATM Port Interconnect Controller (APIC); by daisy-chaining a number of these chips, and con necting each to an X/O device, we can suppon the uninterrupted flow of continuous media data from device to device, as well as from a device to the network and vice-versa.