A generic software platform for local ATM networking

Abstract

We define the requirements of a generic software platform for signaling and network management in a local ATM network. Based on these requirements, we compare some implementations, namely, VINCE, Q.port and XUNET, and conclude that none of these implementations provide a complete separation of the switching hardware and the signalling software. We select VINCE as our platform, since it is highly modular in design, scalable in architecture, compliant with the standards, and allows interworking of IP traffic. To separate the call processing from the switching hardware, we modify the VINCE implementation and define a switch controller-switch manager (SCSM) architecture, which makes it portable across different switching hardware platforms. This allows flexible configuration of call processing, facilitates easy upgrading of the call processing hardware, and service integration. Our implementation of SCSM in a local ATM network indicates that the SCSM partitioning overhead is negligible. We discuss efficient SCSM implementation issues such as event handling, OS, layer management, buffer management, and integration of network management with signaling.