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Foundation Summary 131
ATM Network Components
The building blocks of an ATM internetwork may include the following:
·
Routers with ATM interfaces
·
Computers with a native ATM NIC
·
LightStream 1010, Catalyst 5500 with ATM switch capability, or other ATM switches
·
ATM physical layer, supporting Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) OC-3 with
single or multimode fiber
·
Transparent Asynchronous Transmitter/Receiver Interface (TAXI) with multimode fiber,
or DS3/E3 with coaxial cable
·
LAN switches with ATM interfaces
ATM works best if the design requires the following:
·
Full support for Quality of Service (QoS)
·
High-speed transport over long distances
·
The potential for unlimited scalability and global reachability
ATM is a good choice if the following conditions exist:
·
Network congestion must be relieved on the backbone
·
Voice, video, and data must be consolidated to gain a business advantage
·
Local-area network speed needs to exceed 100 Mbps
·
Wide-area network speed needs to exceed T1 speed
RT-VBR
Yes
Yes
Yes
Voice, variable bit rate video
NRT-VBR
Yes
No
Yes
Terminal sessions, file transfers
Table 4-4
Comparing ATM Service Categories (Continued)
87200333.book Page 131 Wednesday, August 22, 2001 2:18 PM