TRAFFIC EXPERIMENTS ON THE VBNS WIDE AREA ATM NETWORK

As asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks move from the design phas e to the deployment phase, several theoretical assumptions and hypothe ses made in the research literature can be evaluated. Experimental val idation and verification is an essential component in the overall deve lopment of any novel technology. In this article the authors report th e results of several controlled experiments measuring the transport of traffic in a wide area ATM network: the very high-speed Backbone Netw ork Service (vBNS). We illustrate how the characteristics of a tagged traffic stream change as the traffic traverses the network. Also, IP a pplications traffic is characterized at the ATM level. Lastly, we comm ent on the validity of theoretical assumptions often made in the resea rch literature.