End-to-End DSL Architectures

ATM Functionality

ATM is a cell-switching protocol that provides switched service with minimal switch overhead. Overall, ATM provides worldwide standardization for the transport of small, fixed-sized, 53-byte ATM cells. ATM cells behave with the predictability and trace capability of circuit switching and with the flexibility and dynamic rerouting of packet switching. ATM uses digital carrier systems and digital encoding to provide relatively error-free performance. Thus, ATM services do not include error correction overhead. They rely on the transmission path for end-to-end data integrity, resulting in higher throughput to the end user. The preferred digital path is optical fiber, either Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) for North America ...