EFFICIENT USE OF PROTOCOL STACKS FOR LAN MAN-ATM INTERWORKING

Connectionless (CL) services as already developed in LAN's have to int erwork with emerging ATM connection-oriented (CO) networks. MAN's are a significant evolutionary step and CO MAN's, in particular, constitut e a technically appealing method to integrate both environments and pr ovide shared medium access for all services. The functions required fo r enhancing DQDB MAN's with CO services in a way compatible with ATM a re described. Within the integrating framework of B-ISDN, the practica lly useful scenarios for interworking LAN's, CO and CL MAN's, and ATM are investigated and classified in order to exploit the advantages of an efficient protocol relay utilizing the resources of the lowest poss ible layer. This is aimed at assisting interworking unit (IWU) designe rs and implementors to decide on key options in this versatile and evo lving environment. The CO DQDB case emerges as the most advantageous d evelopment in terms of interworking simplicity and robustness.