Related Virtual Exhibits

Nortel Networks
Nortel's Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Portfolio

Definition
Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is a high-performance, celloriented switching and multiplexing technology that utilizes fixedlength 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.

Overview
Changes in the structure of the telecommunications industry and
market conditions have brought new opportunities and challenges for
network operators and public service providers. Networks that have
been primarily focused on providing better voice services are evolving
to meet new multimedia communications challenges and competitive
pressures. Services based on asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and
synchronous digital hierarchy(SDH)/synchronous optical network
(SONET) architectures provide the flexible infrastructure essential for
success in this evolving market (see Figure 1).
Figure 1.

ATM, which was once envisioned as the technology of future public

networks, is now a reality, with service providers around the world

introducing and rolling out ATM and ATMbased services. The ability to
exploit the benefits of ATM technology within the public network
successfully will provide strategic competitive advantage to carriers
and enterprises alike.
In addition to revenue opportunities, ATM reduces infrastructure costs
through efficient bandwidth management, operational simplicity, and
the consolidation of overlay networks. Carriers can no longer afford to
go through the financial burden and time required to deploy a
separate network for each new service requirement (e.g., dedicating a
network for a single service such as transparent LAN or frame relay).
ATM technology will allow core network stability while allowing service
interfaces and other equipment to evolve rapidly.

1. Definition of ATM
Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is a technology that has its history
in the development of broadband ISDN in the 1970s and 1980s.
Technically, it can be viewed as an evolution of packet switching. Like
packet switching for data (e.g., X.25, frame relay, transmission control
protocol [TCP]/Internet protocol [IP]), ATM integrates the multiplexing
and switching functions, is well suited for bursty traffic (in contrast to
circuit switching), and allows communications between devices that
operate at different speeds. Unlike packet switching, ATM is designed
for high-performance multimedia networking. ATM technology has
been implemented in a very broad range of networking devices:
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
ATM is also a capability that can be offered as an end-user service by
service providers (as a basis for tariffed services) or as a networking
infrastructure for these and other services. The most basic service
building block is the ATM virtual circuit, which is an end-to-end
connection that has defined end points and routes but does not have
bandwidth dedicated to it. Bandwidth is allocated on demand by the
network as users have traffic to transmit. ATM also defines various
classes of service to meet a broad range of application needs.
ATM is also a set of international interface and signaling standards
defined by the International Telecommunications Union
Telecommunications (ITUT) Standards Sector (formerly the CCITT).
The ATM Forum has played a pivotal role in the ATM market since its
formulation in 1991. The ATM Forum is an international voluntary
organization composed of vendors, service providers, research
organizations, and users. Its purpose is to accelerate the use of ATM
products and services through the rapid convergence of

interoperability specifications, promotion of industry cooperation, and

other activities. Developing multivendor implementation agreements
also furthers this goal.

2. Benefits of ATM
The benefits of ATM are the following:
high performance via hardware switching
dynamic bandwidth for bursty traffic
class-of-service support for multimedia
scalability in speed and network size
common LAN/WAN architecture
opportunities for simplification via VC architecture
international standards compliance
The high-level benefits delivered through ATM services deployed on
ATM technology using international ATM standards can be
summarized as follows:
high performance via hardware switching with terabit switches on the horizon
dynamic bandwidth for bursty traffic meeting application needs and delivering
high utilization of networking resources; most applications are or can be viewed
as inherently bursty; data applications are LANbased and are very bursty, voice
is bursty, as both parties are neither speaking at once nor all the time; video is
bursty, as the amount of motion and required resolution varies over time
class-of-service support for multimedia traffic allowing applications with
varying throughput and latency requirements to be met on a single network
scalability in speed and network size supporting link speeds of T1/E1 to OC12
(622 Mbps) today and into the multiGbps range before the end of the decade;
networks that scale to the size of the telephone network (i.e., as required for
residential applications) are envisaged
common LAN/WAN architecture allowing ATM to be used consistently from
one desktop to another; traditionally, LAN and WAN technologies have been
very different, with implications for performance and interoperability
opportunities for simplification via switched VC architecture; this is particularly
for LANbased traffic that today is connectionless in nature; the simplification
possible through ATM VCs could be in areas such as billing, traffic
management, security, and configuration management
international standards compliance in central-office and customer-premises
environments allowing for multivendor operation

3. ATM Technology
In ATM networks, all information is formatted into fixed-length cells
consisting of 48 bytes (8 bits per byte) of payload and 5 bytes of cell
header (see Figure 2). The fixed cell size ensures that time-critical
information such as voice or video is not adversely affected by long
data frames or packets. The header is organized for efficient switching
in high-speed hardware implementations and carries payload-type
information, virtual-circuit identifiers, and header error check.

Figure 2. Fixed-Length Cells

ATM is connection oriented. Organizing different streams of traffic in

separate calls allows the user to specify the resources required and
allows the network to allocate resources based on these needs.
Multiplexing multiple streams of traffic on each physical facility
(between the end user and the network or between network switches)
combined with the ability to send the streams to many different
destinationsenables cost savings through a reduction in the number
of interfaces and facilities required to construct a network.
ATM standards defined two types of ATM connections: virtual path
connections (VPCs), which contain virtual channel connections (VCCs).
A virtual channel connection (or virtual circuit) is the basic unit, which
carries a single stream of cells, in order, from user to user. A collection
of virtual circuits can be bundled together into a virtual path
connection. A virtual path connection can be created from end-to-end
across an ATM network. In this case, the ATM network does not route
cells belonging to a particular virtual circuit. All cells belonging to a
particular virtual path are routed the same way through the ATM
network, thus resulting in faster recovery in case of major failures.
An ATM network also uses virtual paths internally for the purpose of
bundling virtual circuits together between switches. Two ATM switches
may have many different virtual channel connections between them,
belonging to different users. These can be bundled by the two ATM
switches into a virtual path connection. This can serve the purpose of
a virtual trunk between the two switches. This virtual trunk can then
be handled as a single entity by, perhaps, multiple intermediate
virtual path cross connects between the two virtual circuit switches.

Virtual circuits can be statically configured as permanent virtual

circuits (PVCs) or dynamically controlled via signaling as switched
virtual circuits (SVCs). They can also be point-to-point or point-tomultipoint, thus providing a rich set of service capabilities. SVCs are
the preferred mode of operation because they can be dynamically
established, thus minimizing reconfiguration complexity.

4. ATM Classes of Services

ATM is connection oriented and allows the user to specify the
resources required on a per-connection basis (per SVC) dynamically.
There are the five classes of service defined for ATM (as per ATM
Forum UNI 4.0 specification). The QoS parameters for these service
classes are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1. ATM Service Classes
Service
Class
constant bit rate
(CBR)

Quality of Service Parameter

This class is used for emulating circuit switching. The cell rate is
constant with time. CBR applications are quite sensitive to cell-delay
variation. Examples of applications that can use CBR are telephone
traffic (i.e., nx64 kbps), videoconferencing, and television.

variable bit rate This class allows users to send traffic at a rate that varies with time
non-real time
depending on the availability of user information. Statistical
(VBRNRT)
multiplexing is provided to make optimum use of network resources.
Multimedia e-mail is an example of VBRNRT.
variable bit rate This class is similar to VBRNRT but is designed for applications
real time (VBR that are sensitive to cell-delay variation. Examples for real-time VBR
RT)
are voice with speech activity detection (SAD) and interactive
compressed video.
available bit rate This class of ATM services provides rate-based flow control and is
(ABR)
aimed at data traffic such as file transfer and e-mail. Although the
standard does not require the cell transfer delay and cell-loss ratio to
be guaranteed or minimized, it is desirable for switches to minimize
delay and loss as much as possible. Depending upon the state of
congestion in the network, the source is required to control its rate.
The users are allowed to declare a minimum cell rate, which is
guaranteed to the connection by the network.
unspecified bit
rate (UBR)

This class is the catch-all, other class and is widely used today for
TCP/IP.

The ATM Forum has identified the following technical parameters to

be associated with a connection. These terms are outlined in Table 2.
Table 2. ATM Technical Parameters

Technical
Parameter
cell loss ratio
(CLR)

Definition
CLR is the percentage of cells not delivered at their destination
because they were lost in the network due to congestion and
buffer overflow.

cell transfer delay The delay experienced by a cell between network entry and exit
(CTD)
points is called the CTD. It includes propagation delays,
queuing delays at various intermediate switches, and service
times at queuing points.
cell delay
variation (CDV)

CDV is a measure of the variance of the cell transfer delay.

High variation implies larger buffering for delay-sensitive
traffic such as voice and video.

peak cell rate

(PCR)

The maximum cell rate at which the user will transmit. PCR is
the inverse of the minimum cell inter-arrival time.

sustained cell rate This is the average rate, as measured over a long interval, in the
(SCR)
order of the connection lifetime.
burst tolerance
(BT)

This parameter determines the maximum burst that can be sent

at the peak rate. This is the bucket-size parameter for the
enforcement algorithm that is used to control the traffic
entering the network.

Finally, there are a number of ATM classes of service. These classes

are all outlined in Table 3.
Table 3. ATM Classes of Services
Class of Service CBR VBRNRT VBRRT ABR UBR
CLR

yes

yes

yes

yes

no

CTD

yes

no

yes

no

no

CDV

yes

yes

yes

no

no

PCR

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

yes

yes

no

no

BT @ PCR

no

yes

yes

no

no

flow control

no

no

no

yes

no

SCR

Its extensive class-of-service capabilities make ATM the technology of

choice for multimedia communications.

5. ATM Standards
The ATM Forum has identified a cohesive set of specifications that
provide a stable ATM framework. The first and most basic ATM
standards are those that provide the end-to-end service definitions as
described in Topic 4. An important ATM standard and service concept
is that of service interworking between ATM and frame relay (a fastgrowing pervasive service), whereby ATM services can be seamlessly
extended to lower-speed frame-relay users. Frame relay is a network
technology that is also based on virtual circuits using variable-length
frame transmission between users.
ATM user network interface (ATM UNI) standards specify how a user
connects to the ATM network to access these services. A number of
standards have been defined for T1/E1, 25 Mbps, T3/E3, OC3 (155
Mbps) and OC12 with OC48 (2.4 Gbps) in the works. OC3 interfaces
have been specified for use over single-mode fiber (for wide-area
applications) and over unshielded twisted pair or multimode fiber for
lower-cost, in-building applications.
The following two ATM networking standards have been defined that
provide connectivity between network switches and between
networks:
broadband intercarrier interface (BICI)
public network-to-network interface (PNNI)
PNNI is the more feature-rich of the two and supports class of
service-sensitive routing and bandwidth reservation. It provides
topology-distribution mechanisms based on advertisement of link
metrics and attributes, including bandwidth metrics. It uses a
multilevel hierarchical routing model providing scalability to large
networks. Parameters used as part of the path-computation process
include the destination ATM address, traffic class, traffic contract, QoS
requirements and link constraints. Metrics that are part of the ATM
routing system are specific to the traffic class and include quality of
service-related metrics (e.g., CTD, CLR) and bandwidth-related
metrics (e.g., PCR). The path computation process includes overall
network-impact assessment, avoidance of loops, minimization of
rerouting attempts, and use of policy (inclusion/exclusion in rerouting,
diverse routing, and carrier selection). Connection admission controls
(CACs) define procedures used at the edge of the network, whereby
the call is accepted or rejected based the ability of the network to
support the requested QoS. Once a VC has been established across
the network, network resources have to be held and quality service
guaranteed for the duration of the connection.
All ATM traffic is carried in cells, yet no applications use cells. So,
specific ways of putting the data into cells are defined to enable the
receiver to reconstruct the original traffic. Three important schemes
are highlighted in Figure 3 and discussed in detail later in the tutorial.
RFC1483, which specifies how interrouter traffic is encapsulated into ATM
using ATM adaptation Layer 5 (AAL5); AAL5 is optimized for handling

framed traffic and has similar functionality to that provided by HDLC framing in
frame relay, SDLC, and X.25
ATM LAN emulation (LANE) and multiprotocol over ATM (MPOA), which are
designed to support dynamic use of ATM SVCs primarily for TCP/IP; LANE,
which is a current standard that is widely deployed and will be a subset of the
MPOA standard (which is targeted for standardization only in mid-1997), will be
discussed later in the tutorial
voice and video adaptation schemes that can use AAL1, which is defined for
high efficiencyfor traffic that itself has no natural breaks, such as a circuit
carrying bits at a fixed rate

Figure 3. Data Insertion in Cells

6. ATM LAN Emulation

ATMbased Ethernet switches and ATM workgroup switches are being
deployed by end users at various corporate sites. The most widely
used set of standards in local ATM environments is ATM LAN
emulation (LANE) (see Figure 4). ATM LAN emulation is used to make
the ATM SVC network appear to be a collection of virtualEthernet/IEEE 802.3 and token-ring/IEEE802.5 LANs. The replication of
most of the characteristics of existing LANs means that LAN
emulation enables existing LAN applications to run over ATM
transparently, this latter characteristic leading to its wide
deployment. In ATM LAN emulation, most unicast LAN traffic moves
directly between clients over direct ATM SVCs, while multicast traffic
is handled via a server functionality. Bridging is used to interconnect
real LANs and emulated LANs running on ATM, while routing is used to
interconnect ATMemulated LANs and other WAN or LAN media for
purposes of routing scalability, protocol spoofing, or security firewalls.

Figure 4. ATM LAN Emulation (LANE)

The ATM Forum LANE implementation agreement specifies two types

of LANE network components connected to an ATM network.
LANE clients which function as end systems, such as computers with ATM
interfaces that operate as file servers; end-user workstations or personal
computers; Ethernet or token-ring switches that support ATM networking; and
routers, bridges, and ATM ENS with membership in an emulated ATM LAN
LANE servers that support ATM LANE service for configuration management,
multicast support, and address resolution
The LANemulation service may be implemented in the same devices
as clients or involve other ATM network devices. The communications
interface, LAN emulation user-network interface (LUNI), is the
sequence and contents of the messages that the clients ultimately
use to transfer traffic of the type expected on IEEE 802.3/5 LANs. The
component of the LANemulation service that deals with initialization
(i.e., emulates plugging the terminal into a LAN hub), is the LAN
emulation configuration server (LECS). It directs a client to connect to
a particular LAN emulation server (LES). The LES is the component of
the LANemulation service that performs the address registration and
resolution. The LES is responsible for mapping IEEE 48-bit MAC
addresses and token-ring route descriptors to ATM addresses. One
very important MAC address for clients is the MAClayer broadcast
address that is used to send traffic to all locations on a LAN. In LAN
emulation, this function is performed by the broadcast and unknown
server (BUS). ATM LANE is a comprehensive set of capabilities which
has been widely deployed in ATM networks.
ATM LANE is an element of the multiple protocol over ATM (MPOA)
architecture that is being defined by the ATM Forum. This work is
addressing encapsulation of multiple protocols over ATM, automatic
address resolution, and the routing issues associated with minimizing
multiple router hops in ATM networks.

7. Voice over ATM

As real-time voice services have been traditionally supported in the
WAN via circuit-based techniques (e.g., via T1 multiplexers or circuit
switching), it is natural to map these circuits to ATM CBR PVCs using
circuit emulation and ATM adaptation Layer 1 (AAL1). However, there
are significant disadvantages in using circuit emulation in that the
bandwidth must be dedicated for this type of traffic (whether there is
useful information being transmitted or not), providing a disincentive
for corporate users to implement circuit emulation as a long-term
strategy. For example, a T1 1.544Mbps circuit requires 1.74 Mbps of
ATM bandwidth when transmitted in circuit-emulation mode. This does
not downplay its importance as a transitional strategy to address the
installed base.
As technology has evolved, the inherent burstiness of voice and many
real-time applications can be exploited (along with sophisticated
compression schemes) to decrease the cost of transmission
significantly through the use of VBRRT connections over ATM.
VBR techniques for voice exploit the inherently bursty nature of voice
communication, as there are silence periods that can result in
increased efficiency. The following silence periods (in decreasing
levels of importance) arise:
when no call is up on a particular trunk; that is, the trunk is idle during off-peak
hours (trunks are typically engineered for a certain call-blocking probability: at
night, all the trunks could be idle)
when the call is up, but only one person is talking at a given time
when the call is up, and no one is talking
Work is just starting in the ATM Forum on ATM adaptation for VBR
voice.
The addition of more bandwidth-effective voice coding (e.g., standard
voice is coded using 64kbps PCM) is economically attractive,
particularly over long-haul circuits and T1 ATM interfaces. Various
compression schemes have been standardized in the industry (e.g.,
G720 series of standards). Making these coding schemes dynamic
provides the network operator the opportunity to free up bandwidth
under network-congestion conditions. For example, with the onset of
congestion, increased levels of voice compression could be
dynamically invoked, thus freeing up bandwidth and potentially
alleviating the congestion while diminishing the quality of the voice
during these periods.
A further enhancement to the support of voice over ATM is to support
voice switching over SVCs. This entails interpreting PBX signaling and
routing voice calls to the appropriate destination PBX (see Figure 5).
The advantage from a traffic management perspective is that
connection admission controls can be applied to new voice calls;
under network congestion conditions, these calls could be rerouted
over the public network and therefore not cause additional levels of
congestion.

Figure 5. Voice Switching over SVCs

The ATM Forum is currently focusing its efforts on voice handled on

CBR SVCs. VBRRT voice is a future standards activity.

8. Video over ATM

While circuit-based videoconferencing streams (including motion JPEG
running at rates around 10 Mbps) can be handled by standard circuit
emulation using AAL1, the ATM Forum has specified the use of VBR
RT VCs using AAL5 for MPEG2 on ATM for video-on-demand
applications, as this approach makes better use of networking
resources.
MPEG is a set of standards addressing coding of video and surroundsound audio signals and synchronization of video and audio signals
during the playback of MPEG data. It runs in the 2 Mbps to 15 Mbps
range (with bursts above these rates) corresponding to VCR and
broadcast quality respectively. The initial MPEG standard (MPEG1) was
targeted at VHSquality video and audio. MPEG2 targets applications
requiring broadcast-quality video and audio and HDTV. MPEG2 coding
can result in one of the following two modes:
program streamsvariable-length packets that carry a single program or
multiple programs with a common time base
transport streams188-byte packets that contain multiple programs (for
examples, see Figure 6).
Figure 6. Transport Streams

In both cases, time stamps are inserted into MPEG2 packets

during the encoding and multiplexing process. MPEG2 assumes
a constant-delay model across the network, thus allowing the
decoder to exactly follow the original encoder source clock. Due
to the cost of coding, MPEG2 is primarily used in a noninteractive broadcast mode as would be the case for a point-tomultipoint broadcast in residential video on demand
applications and in a business TV application for training or
employee communications.

9. ATM Traffic Management

Broadly speaking, the objectives of ATM traffic management are to
deliver quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees for the multimedia
applications and provide overall optimization of network resources.
Meeting these objectives enables enhanced classes of service and
offers the potential for service differentiation and increased revenues,
while simplifying network operations and reducing network cost.
ATM traffic management and its various functions can be categorized
into three distinct elements based on timing requirements.
First, are nodal-level controls that operate in real time. These are
implemented in hardware and include queues supporting different
loss and delay priorities, fairly weighted queue-servicing algorithms,
and rate controls that provide policing and traffic shaping. Welldesigned switch-buffer architectures and capacity are critical to
effective network operation. Actual network experience and
simulation has indicated that large, dynamically allocated output
buffers provide the flexibility to offer the best price performance for
supporting various traffic types with guaranteed QoS. Dynamically
managing buffer space means that all shared buffer space is flexibly
allocated to VCs on an as-needed basis. Additionally, per virtual
connection (VC) queuing enables traffic shaping, and early and partial

packet-level discard have been shown to improve network

performance significantly.
Second, network-level controls operate in near real time. These are
typically, but not exclusively, implemented in software including
connection admission control (CAC) for new connections, network
routing and rerouting systems, and flow-control-rate adaptation
schemes. Network-level controls are the heart of any trafficmanagement system. Connection admission controls support
sophisticated equivalent-bandwidth algorithms with a high degree of
configuration flexibility, based on the cell rate for CBR VCs, average
cell rate plus a configurable increment for VBR VCs, and minimum cell
rate for ABR VCs. Dynamic class-of-service routing standards define
support for fully distributed link-state routing protocols, autoreconfiguration on failure and on congestion, and dynamic load
spreading on trunk groups.
Flow control involves adjusting the cell rate of the source in response
to congestion conditions and requires the implementation of closed
loop congestion mechanisms. This does not apply to CBR traffic. For
VBR and UBR traffic, flow control is left as a CPE function. With ABR,
resource management (RM) cells are defined, which allow signaling of
the explicit rate to be used by traffic sources. This is termed ratebased flow control. ABR is targeted at those applications that do not
have fixed or predictable bandwidth requirements and require access
to any spare bandwidth as quickly as possible while experiencing very
low cell loss. This allows network operators to maximize the
bandwidth utilization of their network and sell spare capacity to users
at a substantial discount while still providing QoS guarantees. To
enhance the effectiveness of network-resource utilization, the ABR
standard provides for end-to-end, segment-by-segment, and hop-byhop service adaptation.
Third, network engineering capabilities operating in nonreal time
support data collection, configuration management, and planning
tools (see Figure 7).
Figure 7. Network Engineering Capabilities

10. ATM Applications

ATM technologies, standards, and services are being applied in a wide
range of networking environments, as described briefly below (see
Figure 8):
Figure 8. ATM Technologies Standards, and Services

ATM servicesService providers globally are introducing or already offering

ATM services to their business users.

ATM workgroup and campus networksEnterprise 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 consolidationA new class of product has evolved
as an ATM multimedia network-consolidation vehicle. It is called an ATM
enterprise network switch. A full-featured ATM ENS offers a broad range of inbuilding (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 servicesService
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 privatenetworking capabilities (these including integrated multimedia access and
network management).
frame-relay backbonesFrame-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 backbonesInternet 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 networksATM 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 networksSome
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.

11. Nortel's ATM Vision

Nortel believes that ATM is the only viable backbone networking
technology that can meet the objective of making multimedia calls as
easy, reliable, and secure as voice calls are today.
ATM, coupled with SONET/SDH for fiber transport, sits at the core of
Nortel's long-term architectural vision. That vision embraces various
residential, business, and mobile access arrangements with a set of
voice/data/video and, ultimately, multimedia servers. There will be
many ways of accessing ATM networks including desktop ATM,
switched Ethernet, wireless, and xDSL, to name a few. The vision
includes extensive support of multiple classes of service for native
ATM, IPbased, frame-relay-based, and circuit-based applications. ATM
accommodates the inherently bursty nature of data, voice, and video
applications and the compressibility of these traffic types for

increased storage and bandwidth effectiveness. Nortel also believes

that frame relay and ATM, being both virtual-circuit based, provide a
service continuum supporting the broadest sets of speeds from sub64 kbps all the way to Gbps. Finally, Nortel envisages a family of
application servers around the periphery of this network to provide a
range of data, image, video and voice services that take advantage of
increasing insensitivity of the network to distance (see Figure 9).
Figure 9. Nortel's ATM Architectural Vision

12. Glossary
Term
AAL1
AAL2
AAL3
AAL4
AAL5
ABR
ATM
ATM UNI
BT
CAC
CBR
CCITT
CLR
CDV
CTD
IEEE

Definition
ATM Adaption Layer 1
ATM Adaption Layer 2
ATM Adaption Layer 3
ATM Adaption Layer 4
ATM Adaption Layer 5
Available Bit Rate
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
ATM User Network Interface
Burst Tolerance
Connection Admission Control
Constant Bit Rate
Comit Consultif Internationale de Telegraphique and Telephonique
Cell Loss Ratio
Cell Delay Variation
Cell Transfer Delay
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers

International Telecommunications Union Telecommunications

Standards Sector
LAN
Local Area Network
LANE
ATM LAN Emulation
LES
LAN Emulation Server
LUNI
LAN Emulation User-network Interface
MPOA
Multiple Protocol Over ATM
PCR
Peak Cell Rate
P-NNI
Public Network to Network Interface
PVC
Permanent Virtual Circuit
RM
Resource Management
SAD
Speech Activity Detection
SCR
Sustained Cell Rate
SDH/SONET Synchronous Digital Hierarchy/Synchronous Optical Network
SVC
Switched Virtual Circuit
TCP/IP
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
UBR
Unspecified Bit Rate
VBRNRT Variable Bit Rate-non Real Time
VCC
Virtual-channel Connections
VPC
Virtual-path Connections
ITU