PROTOTYPE ATM LAN SYSTEM MULTIMEDIA ON DEMAND APPLICATIONS

An experimental system capable of supporting multimedia (image/video/d ata) on demand applications over an ATM network is outlined in this pa per. The system is used to demonstrate both distributed multimedia doc ument processing and video-on-demand scenarios that are expected to be an important application for future ATM networks. The experimental pr ototype employs a high-speed (2.4 Gbps) ATM switch (NEC ATOMIS 5) with appropriate signaling, transport protocol, and application software t o enable fast and reliable workstation access to video/image informati on stored in one or more ''multimedia servers.'' The current system im plementation consists of the following key modules: (1) 2.4 Gbps (16 x 16) ATM switch, (2) UNTX double dagger workstations with JPEG board a nd ATM interface, (3) Q.2931 signaling for call establishment, (4)ATM traffic control for congestion avoidance, (5)Multimedia transport prot ocol, and (6) Application software for distributed multimedia document s, etc. This paper outlines the overall system approach and provides s elected details about each of the major subsystems listed above.