TECHNOLOGIES FOR BROAD-BAND SWITCHING

For an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network to provide a wide rang e of services, high-capacity and low-cost network elements are needed. The capacity and cost of these elements are determined by the costs o f the underlying hardware and software devices necessary to build them : ATM line cards, switching fabrics, and control structures. These dev ices, in turn, are built upon the advanced technologies of digital dev ices, optics, algorithms, and architectures. In this paper, we explore the applications of these technologies to develop ATM line cards, ATM switching fabrics, and ATM control structures.