INTERNETWORKING OVER ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSFER MODE NETWORKS

The creation of wide area data networks between multiple customer site s, known as internetworking, is a key growth area for BT. Customer net works are constructed using complex data networking devices known as ' routers'. These are combined with one or more network services such as BT's switched multi-megabit data service (SMDS), frame relay, ISDN, f lexible bandwidth service (FBS) and private leased circuits to form cu stomer networks of a required performance and cost. The emerging async hronous transfer mode (ATM) technology brings both interesting new pos sibilities and challenges to future internetworks. This paper describe s the current status of ATM data networking in both the wine area and local area network environments (WAN/LAN), then discusses the key chal lenges to network designers, network operators and equipment vendors.