What is an ATM in the Computer Network?

ATM st ands for Asynchronous t ransfer mode. It is a swit ching t echnique used by
t elecommunicat ion net works t hat uses asynchronous t ime-division mult iplexing to encode
dat a into
small, fixed-sized cells. ATMs can be used for efficient dat a t ransfer over highspeed dat a net works.
ATM provides real-t ime and non-real-t ime services.

Services
The services provided by ATM are as follows−

Available Bit Rat e: It provides a guaranteed minimum capacity, but data can be burst to higher
capacities when network traf fic is lower.
Const ant Bit Rat e: It is used to specif y a fixed bit rate so that data is sent in a steady stream. This
is analogous to a leased line.
Unspecified Bit Rat e: This doesn't assure any throughput level and is used f or applications,
including file share that can tolerate delays.
Variable Bit Rat e (VBR): It can provide a determining throughput, but data is not transmitted evenly.
This makes it a f amous choice f or voice and video conf erencing.

Benefits
The high-level benefit s delivered t hrough ATM services deployed on ATM t echnology using
int ernat ional ATM st andards can be summarized as follows−

Dynamic bandwidth for bursty traffic

Dynamic bandwidt h for burst y t raffic meet ing applicat ion needs and delivering a high
ut ilizat ion of
net working resources; most applicat ions are or can be viewed as inherent ly
burst y. For example,
voice is burst y, as bot h part ies are neit her speaking at once nor all
t he t ime; video is burst y, as t he
amount of mot ion and required resolut ion varies over
t ime.

Can handle mixed network traffic very efficiently

Variet y of packet sizes makes t raffic unpredict able. All net work t ypes of equipment should
incorporat e elaborat e soft ware syst ems to manage t he various sizes of packet s. ATM
handles
t hese problems efficient ly wit h t he fixed size cell.

Cell network
All informat ion is loaded into ident ical cells t hat can be sent wit h complet e predict abilit y
and
consist ency.

Class-of-service
It support s mult imedia t raffic allowing applicat ions wit h varying t hroughput and lat ency
requirement s to be met on a single net work.

Common LAN/WAN architecture

It allows ATM to be used consist ent ly from one desktop to anot her; t radit ionally, LAN and
WAN
t echnologies have been very different , wit h implicat ions for performance and
int eroperabilit y. But
ATM t echnology can be used eit her as a LAN t echnology or a WAN
t echnology.