Encapsulating ATM cells in TCP/IP for transport between ATM based backbone and end-user terminals, to enable real-time network-aware services

We propose a protocol, ATM/IP, that encapsulates ATM cells into TCP segments to virtually connect end-user multimedia terminals with ATM based backbone networks. This protocol will enable end-users or service providers to develop and deploy real-time, network-aware applications where the network backbone is ATM based, and the backbone is connected to the multimedia terminals over a well-managed local IP network or a dial-up IP connection. Approaches such as RSVP, diffServ, MPLS and IP over SONET are underway to bring real-time services capability to the Internet independent of ATM. However, ATM continues to be the only promising technology in this area because of its ability to negotiate connection parameters and to enforce performance across the network to guarantee those parameters. Our proposal bridges the gap in networks where ATM will be the primary technology used in the network backbone, but not to connect the backbone to end-user terminals.