Limitations and Disadvantages

Some of the limitations and disadvantages of the Asynchronous Transfer

Mode are a drawback when users plan on implementing this system. The small

quantity of equipment offered to customers, the high price, and because this high

speed switching technology is relatively new to the technology for Broadband

network there is not a large numbers of expertise in the ATM field. One of ATM’s

advantages could also be seen as a disadvantage because the real-time

communication though voice and video is not always used by end users and it is

not a necessity.

The high speed of transferring data could cause two cells to join towards the

same output, one is accepted and the other one is sent to the switch; which

defeats the whole purpose of ATM and slows down the process.

Other disadvantages are found in the three different types of services

offered by ATM. Permanent virtual circuits (PVC), connectionless service, and

switched virtual circuits (SVC). In the PVC there is a static connection and when

used in the network all the parts of the path have to be placed manually. PVC

does not offer network resiliency.

PVC allows direct connectivity between sites. In this way, PVC is similar to a

leased line. Among its advantages, PVC guarantees availability of a connection

and does not require call setup procedures between switches. Disadvantages of

PVCs include static connectivity and manual setup.

Another disadvantage in the SVC is that is takes more time and overhead when

a connection is placed.

Equipment

There are three types of equipment, ATM Switches, ATM Enabled

Devices and End System ATM Devices (NIC).

The ATM Switch has some specific attributes; it has the blocking behavior of

switch, which establishes the greatest switch size and its port speed. It also has

a buffering method that is related to service categories and statistical

multiplexing.

Within the switches there are four types, carrier backbone, carrier edge,

enterprise backbone, and campus.

ATM Enabled Devices are routers, which transform IP packets and ATM cells;

bridges, connects protocol like token ring over an ATM network; hubs, let the

users share medium; multiplexers, is in charge of the many interfaces on and

place input into one ATM trunk; CSUs/ DSUs - Channel Service Unit/ Data

Service Unit

ATM network interface cards are inside ATM end systems computer. It is

connected through a bridge, router or hub to interface with a legacy LAN device.

PROVIDERS

Through a report done by an analyst from Giga Information Group Inc,

reports that major companies use Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) for their
wide-area networks. The main reason of the companies is based on the ability of

handling different type of data like video and voice in the same network.

In today’s world where most of the communication is done over the internet and

telephone lines the need of a high speed and good quality is essential. Providers

have to put in balance the qualities of transport modes in order to satisfy the

clients’ needs. Some of the providers offer ATM and broadband access devices,

channel service units, data service units, fiber repeaters, and service point.

The following is a list of Asynchronous Transfer Mode providers:

 3Com

 Adaptive Micro-Ware

 ADC Kentrox

 Allied Telesyn International Corp.

 BATM Advanced Communications

 Bay Networks

 Cellware

 CISCO SYSTEMS INCORPORATED (financials, news, profile)

 Communications Industry Researchers, Inc.

 Connectware Solutions Inc.

 CTAM

 Data Connection, Ltd.

 GENERAL DATACOMM INDUSTRIES, INC. (financials, news, profile)

 K-Net

 Litton-Fibercom
  Net Plane

 Network Communications, Corp.

 Nokia Networks

 Pairgain

 Paragon Networks International, Inc.

 RADirect: ATM Vendors

 TRANSWITCH CORPORATION (financials, news, profile)

 Trillium Digital Systems, Inc.

To have an idea of how ATM is accepted in the market back in 2001 the ATM

market was $4.1 Billion. Almost 80 % of Service Providers use ATM in their core

networks. Below is a graph (Emerging Standards and Protocols) to view the

revenue in millions of Asynchronous Transfer Mode.

Applications and users

 This type of technology arrives to the end users. The connections are

done through virtual circuits, which provide quality of service. The controls are

also managed by the end users. ATM users are those in need of multimedia real-

time video and audio.

The applications used by users who make use of Asynchronous Transfer

Mode are:

• Internet backbones: ATM backbones meet the rapid growth of frame-relay

services. It also allows the intranet services, data services, and uses the

networking infrastructure.

• ATM enterprise network consolidation: is a new product from the ATM

multimedia network-consolidation vehicle. This new product offers on-site and

WAN to interact by using narrowband and broadband speeds

• Residential broadband networks: how broadband providers use ATM for

residential broadband networks.

• Carrier infrastructures for phone and private- line: Some providers have

implements ATM to conduct telecommunication.

• ATM workgroup and campus networks: Major Enterprises are installing these

systems in CAN. They follow ATM LANE standards.

• Multimedia Virtual Private Networks: This is also included within the ATM to

offer a wide range of services.

• Frame Relay: providers are installing ATM backbone to be use in the

internetworking in many applications of data services.

 These types of applications deal with video in real time. For example the

full duplex in multimedia enhances images, audio, and data transfer. Virtual

reality application allows students to search databases like the one UCF library

offers; scientists and doctors can improve their researches.

Alternatives

These are the alternatives that could be used instead of Asynchronous

Transfer Mode, the Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) and Switched

Multimegabit Digital Service (SMDS).

The Synchronous Optical Network was created by Bell Communications

Research. It is a standard for communication over fiber-optic networks. The

optical carrier speed organizes data in a hierarchical structure.

The Switched Multimegabit Digital Service was also created Bell

Communications Research. SDMDS can carry data in 53-byte cells. It supports a

connectionless data link layer service with cell switching at data rates of 1.544 to

45 Mbps.

Deployment

Providers of frame relay are installing and enhancing communication through

Asynchronous Transfer mode. The have seen its major advantages and also the

beneficial support of ATM backbones with high bandwidth. At the beginning,

when ATM was introduced costs was very high but with the years this transport
mode has catch providers’ attention. The more enterprises became interested,

the purchased the products and prices started to settle down.

Providers think thoroughly when implementing an ATM because of the high

costs. A major issue considers the real need for a high bandwidth and quality of

service (QoS). For example, when the users have a need of two-way voice and

video, then it is justifiable to put into service this particular transport mode.

Another drawback is that by using ATM then its network area has to be

extended, therefore this is more money. For instance, if the ATM offers a

bandwidth of 155MBit/s, 110.3MB/s in TCP/IP bandwidth and a latency of 1ms

the approximate cost per node in US dollars would be around $ 2500

RESOURCES

http://www.atd.net/atdnet.html

http://www.npac.syr.edu/users/mahesh/homepage/atm_tutorial/

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisintwk/ito_doc/atm.htm

http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci213790,00.html

http://www.networkmagazine.com/article/NMG20000727S0016

http://www.dhpc.adelaide.edu.au/reports/079/dhpc-079.pdf