Adding Gigabit Ethernet to an ATM Switch
David Badinson · 1999
This document contains the outcome of the final version of my thesis project: Adding Gigabit Ethernet access to an ATM switch. The accelerating growth of LAN (Local Area Network) traffic and growing number of complex and bandwidth hungry applications, such as, fast Interent, video telephony, voice over Internet, etc., is pushing network administrators to look to high-speed network technologies. The Gigabit Ethernet and ATM are two dominant technologies in network backbone which are operating at gigabit-speed. These two technologies are considered to be competitors, but in reality they are appropriate for different applications and they are not equal substitute for each other. What we can do in this connection is to take up the advantages of both technologies and try to on somehow integrate them, in order to achieve high performance and powerful networks which are extremely demanded for future applications. The purpose with this project was to study the ATM and Gigabit Ethernet technologies and investigate the possibility of integrating them. This report includes an introduction to both technologies and design for a Gigabit Ethernet access card to an ATM switch. The document presents the including components in the card and gives a detailed description for each of components.