AN ATM NETWORK FUTURES TEST-BED

The merging of communications and computing has spurred the developmen t of broadband networking technologies. ATM (asynchronous transfer mod e) has been proposed as a primary standard for combining different tra ffic types over a single bearer network to achieve a truly 'multiservi ce' capability However this technology is notoriously difficult to mod el and understand as it is not hierarchical nor well behaved, but more chaotic and self-organising. So a representative ATM-backboned networ k has been constructed - the 'futures test bed' - giving 700 people th eir own broadband connection, capable of providing a range of future s ervices. The purpose of this test bed is to provide both a platform fo r the development of broadband applications, and a means for assessing the capabilities of ATM. This paper discusses the design and implemen tation of the network and considers some of the potential applications .