Glossary
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ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode: The international standard, identified
by fixed-length 53-byte cells, for transmitting cells in multiple service sys-
tems, such as voice, video, or data. Transit delays are reduced because the
fixed-length cells permit processing to occur in the hardware. ATM is
designed to maximize the benefits of high-speed transmission media, such as
SONET, E3, and T3.
ATM ARP server
A device that supplies logical subnets running classical
IP over ATM with address-resolution services.
ATM endpoint
The initiating or terminating connection in an ATM net-
work. ATM endpoints include servers, workstations, ATM-to-LAN
switches, and ATM routers.
ATM Forum
The international organization founded jointly by Northern
Telecom, Sprint, Cisco Systems, and NET/ADAPTIVE in 1991 to develop
and promote standards-based implementation agreements for ATM tech-
nology. The ATM Forum broadens official standards developed by ANSI
and ITU-T and creates implementation agreements before official standards
are published.
ATM layer
A sublayer of the Data Link layer in an ATM network that is
service-independent. To create standard 53-byte ATM cells, the ATM layer
receives 48-byte segments from the AAL and attaches a 5-byte header to
each. These cells are then sent to the Physical layer for transmission across
the physical medium. See also: AAL.
ATMM
ATM Management: A procedure that runs on ATM switches,
managing rate enforcement and VCI translation. See also: ATM.
ATM user-user connection
A connection made by the ATM layer to
supply communication between at least two ATM service users, such as
ATMM processes. These communications can be uni- or bidirectional, using
one or two VCCs, respectively. See also: ATM layer and ATMM.
ATP
AppleTalk Transaction Protocol: A Transport-level protocol that
enables reliable transactions between two sockets, where one requests the
other to perform a given task and to report the results. ATP fastens the
request and response together, assuring a loss-free exchange of request-
response pairs.
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