Many corporate sites are in the process of upgrading their ATM infrastructure or migrating to a Gigabit Ethernet solution. Today's ATM switches are ready to serve you in either capacity.
In addition to the old standbys of PNNI, ABR QoS and per-VC queueing, new and important ATM features have arrived, such as Soft-PVCs and MPOA. Soft-PVCs let you build PVC (Permanent Virtual Circuit) networks with dynamic reroute capabilities. They use PNNI to route PVC traffic dynamically through the network when the PVC is established or when a network failure takes place.
MPOA (Multiprotocol over ATM) is the ATM analog of Layer 3 switching, enhancing your Layer 3 routing by executing cut-through routing at the edge of the network. MPOA is a requirement, not an option, if you want to scale your existing ATM backbone. You'll need an MPOA server (usually on the core switch), and the edge devices must be MPOA-ready. The core switch also should have an MPOA client so it can be managed in-band through the network.
Most vendors are also offering frame-ATM hybrid switches. For example, Cabletron and 3Com let you add Gigabit Ethernet interfaces to their ATM switches, enabling a smooth migration or integration of Gigabit Ethernet technology. Our Interactive Buyer's Guide charts (at www.networkcomputing.com/1018/1018buyers.html) will help you locate the ATM backbone equipment that fits your network upgrade plan.
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