Introduction to Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. (Copyrights of sections as acknowledged.)

Acknowledgment
This presentation is based on ATM related information provided on the CISCO website, the IEC website and the ATM Forum.
ATM Fundamentals ATM Presentations (Good set of PowerPoint presentations).

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Switchi

Chapter Objectives

Chapter Modules

ATM Defined
ATM is a cell-switching and
multiplexing technology that combines the benefits of circuit switching (guaranteed capacity and constant transmission delay) with those of packet switching (flexibility and efficiency for intermittent traffic) CISCO. It utilizes fixed length cells to carry the information

Areas of Application
Infrastucture
Backbones LAN

LANsAsynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is a highperformance, cell-oriented switching and multiplexing technology that utilizes fixed-length packets to carry different types of traffic. ATM is a technology that will enable carriers to capitalize on a number of revenue opportunities through multiple ATM classes of services; high-speed local-area network (LAN) interconnection; voice, video, and future multimedia applications in business markets in the short term; and in community and residential markets in the longer term.

 Infrastructure
Backbones LAN

Application

ATM Connections

Circuit Switching and Packet Switching

ATM is circuit switched because it establishes virtual circuits for communication At the same time, the virtual circuits are established over packet switched networks As such, it combines the benefits of circuit switched and packet switched technologies

ATM Usage and Bandwidth

In theory, ATM can be deployed from small LANs to very large WANs
At present, it is used mostly on backbones, but this may change in the future with declining prices for ATM equipment

ATM deployments can operate at speeds starting in the Mbps range scaling up to Gpbs range

ATMs Efficiency
It is an asynchronous technology and it uses the links based on the need for information to be transmitted ATM is based on fixed length cells and the cells are small compared to many other forms of transmission such as frame relay etc.

ATM Cell Basics

ATM carries information based on fixed length cells
Compare this to the other packet switching technologies such as Frame Relay etc. where each packet may be of a different length

The length of each cell is 53 Bytes

First 5 bytes are used as the cell header Next 48 bytes are used as the payload carrying the data

ATM Cell Format

5 Bytes 48 Bytes

Header

Payload (Data)

Fixed Length Cell Advantage

Delay or latency is significantly reduced Fixed length cells make it easier to switch data across multiple networks
ATM is therefore suited for voice and video transmission

Fixed length cell is similar to container based road transportation

ATM networks are built based on switches and not routers

Some parallels can be drawn with respect to the advantage of fixed length transportation based on the benefits of container transportation

ATM Cell Header Format

ATM Cell HeaderUNI Format

ATM Cell HeaderNNI Format

ATM Devices
ATM networks are built around two categories of devices
ATM Switch ATM end-point

An ATM switch can be connected to either another ATM switch or and ATM end-point

ATM End-Points
Will contain and ATM end-point adapter Examples of ATM end-points
Workstations LAN switches Routers DSU/CSU Units Video Coder-Decoders (CODECs)

Devices on Which ATM Has Been Implemented

PC, workstation, and server network interface cards switched-Ethernet and token-ring workgroup hubs workgroup and campus ATM switches ATM enterprise network switches ATM multiplexers ATMedge switches ATMbackbone switches
Source: http://www.iec.org/online/tutorials/atm_fund/topic01.html?Next.x=33&Next.y=17

ATM Network Components

Source: CISCO

ATM Switches and Interfaces

ATM switch supports two types of interfaces
User-Network Interface (UNI)
Connects an ATM end-point to a switch

Network-Network Interface (NNI)

Connects two ATM switches

Public and Private Interfaces

UNI and NNI can further be divided to two types One is known as the private type and the other is known as the public type

Private and Public UNI

Private UNI
Connects an ATM end-point to a private ATM switch

Public UNI
Connects an ATM end-point or a private ATM switch to a public ATM switch

Private and Public NNI

Private NNI
Connects two ATM switches within the same private organization

Public NNI
Connects two ATM switches within the same public organization

A third Type of Interface

Known as Broadband Inter-Carrier Interface (BICI)
Connects two public switches from different service providers

Public and Private Interfaces

Source: CISCO

ATM Standards
UNI 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 P-NNI LAN Emulation (LANE)
For the use of ATM over Ethernet, Token ring etc.

Multi-protocol Over ATM

ATM Standards for Digital Lines

Area of Application T1 T3/E3 OC-3 Speed Standard

25 Mbps Yes 155 Mbps Yes 622 Mbps Y

OC-12 Check the ATM Forum for 2.4 Gbps Y for approved standards further information.

ATM Services
There are basically three types of ATM services
Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVC) Switched Virtual Circuits (SVC) Connectionless Service

Note: SVC is the most widely used service

ATM Virtual Connections

Two types of connections exist One is known as the Virtual Path (VP) The other is known as the Virtual Circuit (VC)

Virtual Connection Composition

There can be a number of virtual paths along a physical connection and there can be a number of virtual circuits within a virtual path

Virtual Circuits and Paths

Source: CISCO

Transmission Path (Physical Media)

Physical medium standards to carry ATM include the following:
Synchronous Digital Hierarchy/Synchronous Optical Network (SDH/SONET) DS3/E3 Over Multi-Mode Fiber (MMF) at 155 Mbps Over Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) at 155 Mbps

ISO-OSI and ATM Models

LAN Emulation (LANE)

Defined by the ATM forum to emulate popular LAN protocols such as Ethernet and Token Ring In other words, the LANE protocol makes an ATM network look and behave like either the Ethernet or the Token Ring network CISCO An emulated LAN is known as ELAN

Multi-Protocol Over ATM (MPOA)

Enables the transmission of data between ELANs without having to continuously go through certain routers After the initial flow of data through routers known as MultiProtocol Servers (MPS), it would be directed along the path of ATM switches (See next slide and CISCO

Data Flow Between ELANs with and without MPOA

Without MPOA

With MPOA

ATM Quality of Service (QoS)

ATMs advantage over competing technologies is that it is able to offer a specified QOS For example, ATM providers can guarantee to their customers that the end-to-end latency will not exceed a specified level

QoS Offered by ATM

Constant Bit Rate (CBR) Variable Bit Rate (VBR) Unspecified Bit Rate (UBR) Available Bit Rate (ABR)

Constant Bit Rate (CBR)

Highest grade service (Grade A) A constant bandwidth is available for the virtual channel Suitable for voice-over-IP (Transfer fixed rate uncompressed video), and other traffic that requires steady, guaranteed throughput

Variable Bit Rate (VBR)

Second in the level of service (Grade B) It is divide into to categories
Variable Bit Rate Non-Real Time (VBRNRT) Variable Bit Rate Real Time (VBR-RT)

Variable Bit Rate Non-Real Time VBR-NRT

Provides bandwidth only as needed Traffic that is not very sensitive to cell-delay or latency is handled by this service An example use would be to send multimedia e-mail

Variable Bit Rate Real Time VBR-RT

Again, this is similar to VBR-RT in providing bandwidth as needed But VBR-RT is designed for applications where cell-delay or latency cannot be accommodated

Sample Applications for VBR-RT

Voice with speech activity detection
Telephony

Compressed interactive video

Video conferencing

Available Bit Rate (ABR)

Third in the level of service (Grade C) Bandwidth is adjusted based on the amount of traffic in the network Suitable for data traffic such as file transfer and Email that are basically not time sensitive

Unspecified Bit Rate (UBR)

Fourth in the level of service (Grade D) Dose not offer any fixed values for the traffic parameters

QoS Enforcement
Traffic contract Traffic shaping Traffic policing (See CISCO document for more details)

Competing Technologies
Frame Relay competes at the backbone
Eventually, ATM will be the choice for backbone technology

Gigabit Ethernet
ATMs competition on the desktop area and LANs will be challenged effectively by high speed and proven Ethernet technologies

End of Module

Practical ATM Networks

N. Ganesan, Ph.D.

Chapter Objectives

ATM Interfaces

ATM

ATM and other technologies.

Source: CISCO

ATM Network Building Block

The main building block of ATM networks is the ATM switch
Workgroup switch Campus switch Enterprise switch Multi-service access switch

ATM Network Hierarchy

Source: CISCO

Work Group Switch

These switches will have Ethernet and ATM ports Used for connecting Ethernet networks to ATM switches Note: At the desktop level Ethernet still remains as the leading network technology

Campus Switch
Used for designing small-scale ATM backbones Can be used for connecting various campus backbone technologies
FDDI Gigabit Ethernet etc.

Move from Traditional to New Backbones

Enterprise ATM Switch

Used in building large enterprise backbones Can be used for integrating different services and technologies on the backbone

Multi-Service Access Switch

A common ATM infrastructure can be used in a public network to support disparate services
Frame relay LAN interconnection Public ATM services

Their use usually extends beyond a private network to a public network Used by service providers to connect MANs and WANs for example

ATM Interface Types

User-to-Network Interface (UNI) Network-to-Network Interface (NNI)

Interface Types in a Network

Source: CISCO

ATM Interfaces
LAN interfaces Backbone interfaces

ATM to LAN Interface

Source: http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisintwk/idg4/nd2008.htm#28807

LAN Emulation Issues

Emulate an Ethernet LANs Map traditional LAN addresses to ATM addresses

ATM to WAN Interface

Source: CISCO

DXI Data Exchange Interface HSSI High Speed Serial Interface DSU Data Service Unit

Load Balancing with ATM Switches

Source: CISCO

Summary
ATM networks are basically built around ATM switches ATM interfaces can be used for integrating disparate WAN technologies At the desktop LAN, ATM can be used for emulating the traditional Ethernet environment for example

For the backbone and large public backbones, ATM is bound to become the technology of choice

But, in general, the Ethernet technology is very popular in terms of ease of use and speed Therefore, ATM at the LAN front is likely to be used for connecting Ethernet LANs to the backbone if the backbone is based on ATM

References
At CISCO

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/ci

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/ci

ATM Forum
http://www.atmforum.org/