ATM Applications

ATM technologies, standards, and services are being applied in a wide range of networking environments, as described briefly below (Fig. 4):

• ATM services—Service providers globally are introducing or already offering ATM services to their business users.

• ATM workgroup and campus networks—Enterprise users are deploying ATM campus networks based on the ATM LANE standards. Workgroup ATM is more of a niche market with the wide acceptance of switched-Ethernet desktop technologies.

• ATM enterprise network consolidation—A new class of product has evolved as an ATM multimedia network-consolidation vehicle. It is called an ATM enterprise network switch (ENS). A full-featured ATM ENS offers a broad range of in-building (e.g., voice, video, LAN, and ATM) and wide-area interfaces (e.g., leased line, circuit switched, frame relay, and ATM at narrowband and broadband speeds) and supports ATM switching, voice networking, frame-relay SVCs, and integrated multiprotocol routing.

• Multimedia virtual private networks and managed services—Service providers are building on their ATM networks to offer a broad range of services. Examples include managed ATM, LAN, voice and video services (these being provided on a per-application basis, typically including customer-located equipment and offered on an end-to-end basis), and full-service virtual private-networking capabilities (these including integrated multimedia access and network management).

• Frame-relay backbones—Frame-relay service providers are deploying ATM backbones to meet the rapid growth of their frame-relay services to use as a networking infrastructure for a range of data services and to enable frame relay to ATM service interworking services.

• Internet backbones—Internet service providers are likewise deploying ATM backbones to meet the rapid growth of their frame-relay services, to use as a networking infrastructure for a range of data services, and to enable Internet class-of-service offerings and virtual private intranet services.

• Residential broadband networks—ATM is the networking infrastructure of choice for carriers establishing residential broadband services, driven by the need for highly scalable solutions.

• Carrier infrastructures for the telephone and private-line networks—Some carriers have identified opportunities to make more-effective use of their SONET/SDH fiber infrastructures by building an ATM infrastructure to carry their telephony and private-line traffic.