ABSTRACT
Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology promises the integration of the diverse services of voice, video, image and data. The fixed-length ATM cell structure defines the foundation of the ATM technology. The chapter provides a high-level overview of ATM concepts. A principal attribute of ATM is that it is equally suitable for departmental and campus local area networks, metropolitan area networks and wide area networks. ATM technology can be viewed as the next stage in the evolution of packet switching and circuit-switching technologies. ATM networking technology defines a number of standardized interfaces which will allow the interconnection of switches and ATM-connected routers and workstations from multiple vendors. The Virtual Path (VP) and virtual circuit concepts are the basic building blocks for identifying a physical transmission path to carry ATM cells associated with a particular call. The VP control mechanisms typically include calculating routes, allocating capacity, and storing connection state information.
