The paper presents a realistic scenario for the introduction of a public AT
M network to be implemented on the Hungarian SDH infrastructure. The Hungar
ian SDH network was deployed in 1996 with STM-4 rings on the lower level, a
nd an STM-16 mesh subnetwork on the higher level, while the ATM network is
intended to be introduced with two hierarchical levels: the access level an
d the backbone level consisting of transit and regional sublevels. A networ
k optimization model and a practical approach are proposed for the topologi
cal optimization of the ATM network. In the proposed approach the problem i
s decomposed into two phases, namely, the determination of the topology of
the ATM backbone including the identification of access and transit sites,
and the near optimal realization of ATM links in the SDH infrastructure. Th
e planning method and the scenario are demonstrated by some numerical resul
ts. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.