1 ATM Overview

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1 ATM Overview........................................................................1 1.1 Before ATM (1/4) .................................................................3 1.1 Before ATM (2/4) .................................................................4 1.1 Before ATM (3/4) .................................................................5 1.1 Before ATM (4/4) .................................................................6 1.2 Broadband networks (1/3) .................................................7 1.2 Broadband networks (2/3) .................................................8 1.2 Broadband networks (3/3) .................................................9 1.3 The importance of ATM (1/2) ...........................................10 1.3 The importance of ATM (2/2) ...........................................11 1.4 The character / nature of ATM (1/2) ................................12 1.4 The character / nature of ATM (2/2) ................................13 1.5 Small Cells (1/2) ................................................................14 1.5 Small Cells (2/2) ................................................................15 1.6 ATM Network Topology ...................................................16 1.7 The ATM-Forum and ATM-Standards .............................17 1.8 ATM and LAN Environments ...........................................18 1.9 Summary ...........................................................................19

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1.1 Before ATM (1/4)

Before ATM there were two classes of Wide Area Network. On the one hand, there was the telephone network, which was either based on 3.3 kHz analogue channels, or 64 kbps digital channels. The system showed constant data rates and short delay times, as is required in voice transmission. On the other hand, there was the X.25 data network, which represented the standard, independent Wide Area Network. It was based on the transmission of small, variable-length data packets, and was provided with complex data recovery as well as flow control and congestion control mechanisms. X.25 had been originally designed for low data rates and proved to be quite inefficient when it came to connecting to new, high data rate Local Area Networks, such as Frame Relay, with its large, variable-length data packets.

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1.1 Before ATM (2/4)

All the WANs were connection-oriented, i.e. with point-to-point connections that had to be set up before any data could be transmitted, and cleared down afterwards. Due to the signalling protocols required, this system is considered reliable. Information is transmitted to its correct destination without any errors. The connection set-up and cleardown procedures became unnecessary with the introduction of permanent connections. These systems were referred to as connectionless.

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1.1 Before ATM (3/4)

Ethernet and Token Ring asserted themselves among the connectionless systems. The data packets at this bottommost layer are called frames. A frame consists of a header, a user data section and a trailer. The header includes the 6 byte Destination and Source Media Access Control, or MAC addresses for addressing. The trailer includes a 4 byte Cyclical Redundancy Check (CRC) for error detection. These networks are called unreliable, because packets are not recovered but deleted in case of transmission errors or congestion. It is then up to the higher transport protocols to spot and retransmit missing frames.

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1.1 Before ATM (4/4)

Ethernet achieved data rates between 10 and 100 Mbps, though the users had to share these high data rates, so that each user disposed of a lower data rate. It was not until the introduction of Ethernet switches that a remedy to this problem was found. Token Ring networks used to achieve a data rate of 16 Mbps. The equally ring-shaped FDDI achieved a line rate of 100 Mbps. Their lack of flexibility, however, made it increasingly difficult to speed up these systems' data transmission. The network cable lengths and the number of workstations were specified and limited. The systems reached their limits after a few kilometres of cable and a maximum of 1000 users. Larger and more complex networks were built using routers. The many applications were based on broadcast transmissions to every computer on the network, and on multicast transmissions directed to a specific group of computers.

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1.2 Broadband networks (1/3)

The increasing popularity of video applications called for higher and higher data rates. Traditional technologies such as ISDN or X.25 networks did either not provide enough capacity, or their delay times were too long, or their error rates too high for an acceptable transmission quality. The existing LANs and MANs were not up to the demands. The solution to these problems was the introduction of Broadband ISDN (B-ISDN) and of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Whereas B-ISDN which operates at high, variable bit rates describes the service offered, ATM describes the network technology this service is based on.

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1.2 Broadband networks (2/3)

In ATM the transmission unit is known as cell. A cell is a small data packet of fixed length and standardized format. Cells can be transmitted between different high-speed lines using switches. With their help, the delays which occur in traditional systems can be minimized. The technology is called asynchronous because the time gap between two cells on the same virtual circuit is not defined. In contrast to that, many physical components have a fixed delay between cells of the same physical connection. This delay is normally zero.

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1.2 Broadband networks (3/3)

Initially, connection-oriented point-to-point services dominated in the field of Wide Area Networks. Connection-oriented means that a call must be set up before any data can be transmitted, and cleared down afterwards. There are two types of connection-oriented systems:

switched connections, where connection set-up and cleardown is determined by the end system, and permanent connections, where connection set-up and cleardown is guaranteed by a network management system.

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1.3 The importance of ATM (1/2)

ATM has become one of the most important network technologies. But where does its importance come from? An ATM network provides a central backbone which can transport all types of network traffic, no matter whether it's constant data, bursty data, voice or video. To guarantee this, the standard was developed with extreme care. Specific data types were taken into account. Furthermore, standards have been developed to give the applications and workstations on ATM networks as many facilities as possible. One of the most important applications is the Local Area Network Emulation, which provides the routers and bridges with LAN-specific characteristics. And this is necessary because ATM networks as well as most of the WANs are per se not able to support broadcast traffic, since they consist of many point-to-point connections.

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1.3 The importance of ATM (2/2)

Today there is no clear distinction anymore between voice and data. Broadband applications like multimedia, video, high-definition graphics, voice and text data call for a technology which suits all the requirements to a network and provides the bandwidth needed. Technologies like Ethernet, Token Ring, X.25, Frame Relay or FDDI, however, have limited capacities. ATM, which offers bandwidths between 155 and 622 Mbps, and sometimes even achieves 2.5 Gbps, offers possibilities which may by far exceed in the future the data rates available today.

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1.4 The character / nature of ATM (1/2)

ATM stands for Asynchronous Transfer Mode. It is a multiplexing transmission technique which relies both on packet-switching and on circuit-switched technologies. Small, fixedlength data packets are used for data transmission. These ATM data packets are called cells. The term "asynchronous" refers to the way ATM places its cells on the transmission medium. In ATM the cells are multiplexed onto the transmission medium in a similar way as in conventional Time Division Multiplexers (TDMs). With one significant difference: While TDMs usually assign a fixed time slot in every frame to each of its input channels, independent whether user data is being transmitted or not, ATM cells are only transmitted to the network if actual user data is being transmitted.

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1.4 The character / nature of ATM (2/2)

The difference between conventional packet-switched systems and ATM is that they do not guarantee that the packets are delivered in time. Their main benefit is the efficient use of the available bandwidth. Circuit-switched systems and TDMs, on the other hand, can make guarantees as to the time of delivery, but they don't use the available bandwidth very efficiently, since they provide resources even when there is no data to be transferred. ATM tries to guarantee both: the efficient use of bandwidth, and a guaranteed delivery time. To achieve this, ATM uses cells, which we already talked about, as well as fast packet-switching techniques.

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1.5 Small Cells (1/2)

The requirement to guarantee real-time network traffic suggests the use of small cells. This allows to minimize delay due to data packetization as well as queuing delay. Each ATM cell is only 53 bytes long. It consists of a 5 byte header and a 48 byte payload. This size is a compromise between the requirements of voice transmission on the one hand and data transmission on the other. Optimum voice transmission would have suggested a smaller, and data transfer a higher amount of information per cell.

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1.5 Small Cells (2/2)

Error control is only applied to the header. Since ATM uses Virtual Circuit Connections, or VCCs, the fields in the header include identifiers both for the virtual channel and for the virtual path associated with these VCCs. To transport the cells to their correct destination, the values in these fields must remain undamaged. The simple header structure, together with the limited error control at data link level, enable fast cell transport. Payload integrity is up to higher protocol layers. ATM cells transport different types of information. They can be used efficiently for Constant Bit Rate (CBR) services, such as digital telephony, fax and video, as well as for Variable Bit Rate (VBR) services, i.e. interactive data, text and graphics.

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1.6 ATM Network Topology

In ATM a number of ATM switches and workstations form a network. They are interconnected via the ATM medium. This can consist of optical fibre or of twisted-pair wiring. All the ATM network elements are interconnected point-to-point. ATM switches are devices which support the set-up and cleardown virtual circuits, over which ATM cells are routed. Due to their simple and standardized structure, these cells can be transmitted very fast and with short delay. The different connections in a switch are occupied in parallel, so that each interface of a switch can use the full bandwidth of the medium in a full-duplex manner. In contrast to that, technologies like FDDI must share the available bandwidth among all the interfaces in a halfduplex manner.

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1.7 The ATM-Forum and ATM-Standards

Back in the mid-80s, the CCITT, which today is known as the ITU-TS, issued recommendations for B-ISDN. In 1986 ATM and cell switching were chosen as the standard for B-ISDN. The rapid rise of ATM to an international standard is not just the result of the CCITT's efforts, but especially that of the ATM Forum's work. This organization was founded in 1991 by leading telecommunication companies. By the end of 1995 this group had already more than 700 members, including the leading manufacturers of switches, routers. hubs, computers and chips, but also representatives from the telecomms industry, government authorities, research institutes and end users. The ATM Forum's objective is to promote the universal acceptance of ATM and to guarantee the rapid development of interoperable ATM products. It develops and recommends specifications in order to promote interoperability in ATM.

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1.8 ATM and LAN Environments

To get ATM generally accepted, the ATM Forum committed itself to ensuring the interoperability of ATM with technologies like Ethernet and Token Ring. For this purpose, the LAN Emulation Standard was defined for interoperability with conventional LANs.The protocols defined in the LAN Emulation Standard enable the ATM network to control virtual circuits and to emulate the connectionless character of a Local Area Network. This allows a high degree of interoperability. LAN emulation (LANE) can be used by conventional LAN workstations via a connection from the conventional to the ATM network, as well as by ATMbased servers, routers and other network elements.

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1.9 Summary

Let's summarize the characteristics of ATM:

ATM carries all types of network traffic. ATM provides theoretically unlimited bandwidth. ATM guarantees high data rates and short queues. ATM knows no limitations as to the maximum distance its medium can cover. ATM is not limited by the requirement of several ports and interfaces. ATM does not depend on higher protocols, in contrast to router-based networks.

ATM is a standard accepted all over the world.

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