ABSTRACT
Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network was the universally regarded architecture for the multimedia carrier network, the Next-Generation Network of its time, underpinned by a packet technology called Asynchronous Transfer Mode. ATM is receding into history, but at the time we all knew it was the communications. All traffic: voice, video and data, was to be carried in 48-byte packets, with a 5-byte header for routing and control. The carriers knew they had to packetize their networks, and that they needed a new architecture supported by a number of new protocols. Layering telephone-type functions onto the existing Internet architecture is a challenge. The Internet was put together by many people and organizations, loosely coupled through standard protocols developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force. Some of it works well, some Internet services are beta or worse. The world of the Internet is exploratory, incremental, and sometimes revolutionary and it’s an open environment where anyone can play and innovate.
