DEVELOPMENT OF A GIGABIT ATM LOCAL-AREA NETWORK

FORE SYSTEMS PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A GIGABIT-SPEED LOCAL-AREA NETWORK BASED ON THE ATM (ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSFER MODE) STANDARD. ATM IS A NEW TELECOMMUNICATIONS STANDARD THAT IS THE BASIS FOR THE FORTHCOMING WORLDWIDE BROADBAND INTEGRATED SERVICES DIGITAL NETWORK (B-ISDN). THE ATM STANDARDF IS ALSO ATTRACTIVE FOR LOCAL-AREA NETWORKS BECAUSE IT IS DESIGNED TO SUPPORT HIGH-SPEED MULTI-MEDIA COMMUNICATION (SIMULTANEOUS DATA, AUDIO, AND VIDEO COMMUNICATION) OVER THE SAME NETWORK. FORE SYSTEMS' PROPOSED NETWORK ARCHITECTURE WILL USE HIGH-SPEED (622 MBITS/SEC) FIBER-OPTIC LINKS CONNECTED TO FAST PACKET SWITCHES THAT CAN HANDLE THE SMALL PACKETS, OR CELLS, SPECIFIED BY THE ATM STANDARD. IN ORDER TO CONNECT COMPUTERS TO THE NETWORK, FORE SYSTEMS PROPOSES TO DEVELOP 622 MBITS/SEC ATM INTERFACES FOR HIGH-END WORKSTATIONS. BOTH THE COMPUTER AND SWITCH INTERFACES WILL BE BUILT AROUND A SINGLE ASIC CHIP THAT WILL HANDLE ATM CELL PROCESSING, LEADING TO A HIGHLY-INTEGRATED, COST-EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION. DURING THE PHASE I, FORE SYSTEMS WILL STUDY THE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED ARCHITECTURE AND ESTABLISH ITS FEASIBILITY. IN PARTICULAR, THE RESULTS OF THE PHASE I STUDY WILL INCLUDE HIGH-LEVEL DESIGNS AND COST ESTIMATES OF THE HARDWARE COMPONENTS, SPECIFICATION OF SYSTEMS SOFTWARE, AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THIS RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR THE COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF A GIGABIT/SECOND ATM-BASED LOCAL-AREA NETWORK. KEY WORDS - LOCAL-AREA NETWORKS, ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSFER MODE, NETWORK INTERFACES