Mariposa, 3Com Raise the Bar For Next-Generation ATM Access
March 22, 1999
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Executive Summary: ATM Access Concentrators
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Hardcore ATM Switches for the WAN,
Features, October 15, 1997
ADC Kentrox And 3Com Aggregate ATM WAN Traffic,
Reviews, April 15, 1998
ATM Provides University's 'Core' Curriculum ,
Centerfold, October 1, 1998
Putting Enterprise ATM Solutions to Work,
Features, January 11, 1999
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By David Willis
The time is right for ATM in the wide area. Service providers are offering public ATM services at rates matching those of frame relay, letting customers create a truly integrated WAN backbone without blowing WAN budgets. Because many carrier networks are built on an ATM foundation, they can offer native ATM services over the same network that supports their traditional offerings. So ATM is the obvious next step for both frame relay users and those wishing to build a single cost-effective consolidated network.
As these services become both more affordable and more widely available, choosing the right access equipment will be vital. Because ATM is a densely layered set of protocols, devices can be complex to configure and manage. Traditional ATM WAN switches require extensive training, so ATM won't displace frame relay and leased-line networks until a new breed of access concentrators overcomes this limitation. The market is in a transition from old-style devices to something new.
 To view the Report card on ATM Access Concentrators
The new ATM concentrators must be straightforward to install, without sacrificing power or flexibility. They must offer network-side speeds as low as T1, compress voice traffic to minimize overhead and support traditional serial interfaces to legacy equipment. They must prioritize and shape traffic so that the critical services of voice and video transmission are never disrupted by less urgent data. And finally, ATM equipment has to be affordable to compete effectively with FRADs (frame relay access devices). That's a tall order, but our latest test results reveal that ATM concentrators as a category are moving in the right direction.
In tests conducted at the MCI WorldCom Developer's Lab in Richardson, Texas, we found several ATM access concentrators worthy of consideration. In the past, we've looked at large WAN switches designed to consolidate traffic from a number of sources and access concentrators with T1 Inverse Multiplexing for ATM (IMA) uplinks to the WAN. This time, we tested lower-cost access concentrators with T1 interfaces to the cloud, designed to integrate voice, data and CBR (constant bit rate) traffic, such as video, onto a single ATM WAN.
We brought in Lucent Technologies' PacketStar Access Concentrator 10, credited by many as the first successful product in this class. We next evaluated General DataComm's GDC APEX MAC1, more of a traditional access switch from a family that has performed well in our previous tests of larger devices. Last year, 3Com Corp.'s SuperStack II PathBuilder 310/S330 took Editor's Choice in our IMA review, so we put the S330 up against the rest as well. (For more on last year's results, see "ADC Kentrox and 3Com Aggregate ATM WAN Traffic," at www.networkcomputing.com/907/907r1.html.)
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