 | |
| Type | Consortium |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1991 |
| Defunct | 2005 |
| Fate | Merged with MPLS and Frame Relay Alliance |
| Successor | MFA Forum |
The ATM Forum was founded in 1991 to be the industry consortium to promote Asynchronous Transfer Mode technology used in telecommunication networks; the founding president and chairman was Fred Sammartino of Sun Microsystems. It was a non-profit international organization. The ATM Forum created over 200 implementation agreements.
In 1996 ATM technology stabilized with the "Anchorage Accord", which established the baseline of ATM implementations. While ATM did not live up to every expectation, it remained an important core network technology. The Frame Relay Forum (promoting Frame Relay) also started in 1991. The MPLS Forum (which supported Multiprotocol Label Switching had begun in 2000. Those two merged in 2003 to become the MPLS and Frame Relay Alliance (MFA). In 2005, the ATM Forum joined forces with the MFA to form the MFA Forum, which was renamed to be the IP/MPLS Forum. In May 2009 the IP/MPLS Forum merged with the Broadband Forum. [1]
A widely adopted specification to emerge from the ATM Forum was the Circuit Emulation Service (CES) specification. This specification defined a method of creating a service out of mapping TDM DS0 and DS1/E1 Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) signals into Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cells. It also supported J2 and DS-3 signals. The service was built around the ATM Adaption Layer 1 specification from the ITU. The 1.0 version was approved about 1995 and the 2.0 version was approved in January 1997. [2]
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a telecommunications standard defined by the American National Standards Institute and ITU-T for digital transmission of multiple types of traffic. ATM was developed to meet the needs of the Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network as defined in the late 1980s, and designed to integrate telecommunication networks. It can handle both traditional high-throughput data traffic and real-time, low-latency content such as telephony (voice) and video. ATM provides functionality that uses features of circuit switching and packet switching networks by using asynchronous time-division multiplexing.
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a routing technique in telecommunications networks that directs data from one node to the next based on labels rather than network addresses. Whereas network addresses identify endpoints the labels identify established paths between endpoints. MPLS can encapsulate packets of various network protocols, hence the multiprotocol component of the name. MPLS supports a range of access technologies, including T1/E1, ATM, Frame Relay, and DSL.
A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunications network that extends over a large geographic area. Wide area networks are often established with leased telecommunication circuits.
Frame Relay is a standardized wide area network (WAN) technology that specifies the physical and data link layers of digital telecommunications channels using a packet switching methodology. Originally designed for transport across Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) infrastructure, it may be used today in the context of many other network interfaces.
A virtual circuit (VC) is a means of transporting data over a data network, based on packet switching and in which a connection is first established across the network between two endpoints. The network, rather than having a fixed data rate reservation per connection as in circuit switching, takes advantage of the statistical multiplexing on its transmission links, an intrinsic feature of packet switching.
A digital subscriber line access multiplexer is a network device, often located in telephone exchanges, that connects multiple customer digital subscriber line (DSL) interfaces to a high-speed digital communications channel using multiplexing techniques. Its cable internet (DOCSIS) counterpart is the Cable modem termination system.
The use of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology and services creates the need for an adaptation layer in order to support information transfer protocols, which are not based on ATM. This adaptation layer defines how to segment higher-layer packets into cells and the reassembly of these packets. Additionally, it defines how to handle various transmission aspects in the ATM layer.
In computer networking and telecommunications, a pseudowire is an emulation of a point-to-point connection over a packet-switched network (PSN).
Throughput of a network can be measured using various tools available on different platforms. This page explains the theory behind what these tools set out to measure and the issues regarding these measurements.
IEEE 802.16 is a series of wireless broadband standards written by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The IEEE Standards Board established a working group in 1999 to develop standards for broadband for wireless metropolitan area networks. The Workgroup is a unit of the IEEE 802 local area network and metropolitan area network standards committee.
In computer networking and telecommunications, TDM over IP (TDMoIP) is the emulation of time-division multiplexing (TDM) over a packet-switched network (PSN). TDM refers to a T1, E1, T3 or E3 signal, while the PSN is based either on IP or MPLS or on raw Ethernet. A related technology is circuit emulation, which enables transport of TDM traffic over cell-based (ATM) networks.
If a network service wishes to use a broadband network to transport a particular kind of traffic, it must first inform the network about what kind of traffic is to be transported, and the performance requirements of that traffic. The application presents this information to the network in the form of a traffic contract.
A broadband remote access server routes traffic to and from broadband remote access devices such as digital subscriber line access multiplexers (DSLAM) on an Internet service provider's (ISP) network. BRAS can also be referred to as a broadband network gateway or border network gateway (BNG).
The next-generation network (NGN) is a body of key architectural changes in telecommunication core and access networks. The general idea behind the NGN is that one network transports all information and services by encapsulating these into IP packets, similar to those used on the Internet. NGNs are commonly built around the Internet Protocol, and therefore the term all IP is also sometimes used to describe the transformation of formerly telephone-centric networks toward NGN.
In telecommunications and computer networking, connection-oriented communication is a communication protocol where a communication session or a semi-permanent connection is established before any useful data can be transferred. The established connection ensures that data is delivered in the correct order to the upper communication layer. The alternative is called connectionless communication, such as the datagram mode communication used by Internet Protocol (IP) and User Datagram Protocol, where data may be delivered out of order, since different network packets are routed independently and may be delivered over different paths.
In telecommunications, a network-to-network interface (NNI) is an interface that specifies signaling and management functions between two networks. An NNI circuit can be used for interconnection of signalling, Internet Protocol (IP) or ATM networks.
Virtual leased lines (VLL), also referred to as virtual private wire service (VPWS) or EoMPLS, is a way to provide Ethernet-based point to point communication over Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) or Internet Protocol networks. VLL uses the pseudo-wire encapsulation for transporting Ethernet traffic over an MPLS tunnel across an MPLS backbone. VLL also describes a point to point bonded connection using the broadband bonding technology.
Circuit emulation service (CES) is a telecommunication technology used to send information over asynchronous data networks like ATM, Ethernet or MPLS, so that it is received error-free with constant delay, similar to a leased line.
The Broadband Forum is a non-profit industry consortium dedicated to developing broadband network specifications. Members include telecommunications networking and service provider companies, broadband device and equipment vendors, consultants and independent testing labs (ITLs). Service provider members are primarily wire-line service providers (non-mobile) telephone companies.
Axerra Networks is a leading provider of circuit emulation and service emulation solutions over packet access networks for mobile backhaul and business service delivery.