ATM local area networks using distributed switch architecture

To date, multimedia LAN proposals are based either on a centralized ATM-switch or on an advanced shared medium access protocol. The former uses the standardized ATM technology, but takes over the public switch architecture. The latter is evolved from the classical datagram networks. To overcome the disadvantages of both existing concepts and to combine their advantages, this paper presents a new ATM LAN concept which is based on a distributed ATM-switch architecture. In comparison with the centralized ATM-switches the distributed architecture better meets the customer requirements of local area multimedia communications. In comparison with the advanced shared medium access protocols it better supports virtual channel oriented resource and performance management which is essential for future multimedia applications.