InformationWeek

The Future Is Spelled ATM

Speed and the ability to handle all types of traffic over a single network makes asynchronous transfer mode a hot networking technology

By Mary E. Thyfault
Issue date: January 2, 1995

If the experts are right, the high-speed networking technology of the future is asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and that future is now. In 1995, ATM will make inroads on the desktop, and on local, metropolitan, and wide area networks.

Progress in developing and implementing key standards, combined with falling prices for ATM hardware and services, will cause companies to migrate to networks that provide high-speed transport for voice, video, and data traffic. "For the first time, we have a technology that allows you to go end-to-end from the wide area network to the desktop," says M. Irfan Ali, assistant VP for product marketing at Newbridge Networks Inc., a Herndon, Va., switch maker.

That development appeals to users because it can produce substantial savings in hardware and support staff, which is crucial for companies in competitive industries. "As networks grow and staffing declines, our networks must be more efficient," says Don Gilbert, executive director of information systems at the American Petroleum Institute in Washington.

Cell Standard
ATM uses a "cell" of 53 bytes to carry voice, data, and video signals. By using a standard cell size, ATM can switch data via hardware, which is cheaper than using software to route and switch traffic. It's also faster: ATM speeds can exceed 2.5 Gbps.

"The ability to have scalable bandwidth is important to us," says Carl Williams, chief information officer at oil company Amoco Corp. in Chicago. Once ATM is fully implemented, corporations will have to pay for bandwidth only when they use it, and for long-distance ATM links only when they need them.

ATM's speed and ability to handle all types of traffic over a single network make it ideal for a range of bandwidth-intensive applications, including multimedia, medical imaging, bank-check imaging, seismology studies, supercomputer simulations, CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/ manufacturing) files, and more.

Users with networks growing more congested as applications gobble up bandwidth are giving ATM a serious look as a long-term solution. "There are innovators kicking the tires and testing the technology now," says Ron Toth, an AT&T ATM product manager. "In 1995, experimentation will turn into reality," adds Charlie Robbins, an analyst with the Aberdeen Group Inc., a consultancy in Boston.

Formulating Standards
One factor influencing the pace of ATM adoption is standards, many of which are being formulated by the ATM Forum, a Foster City, Calif., group of more than 700 vendors that is trying to bring ATM to market quickly.

ATM suppliers are expected to implement several key forum standards this year. One is a local area network (LAN) emulation standard that provides an interface that allows ATM to handle current network protocols such as Ethernet and token ring.

Other critical standards will handle rate and flow control issues to ensure that the different types of ATM traffic won't clog the network, causing it to delay or throw away data.

"Traffic control and management are a must," says Walter Gould, a senior systems scientist for Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) in El Segundo, Calif., which manages an ATM network for NASA. "Every time we turn over a rock, we find traffic congestion issues under it."

Another standard will enable users to change network design and reroute traffic. "Today, it's a manual process," says David Beer ing, a telecom analyst for Amoco's experimental ATM network.

These developments mean "it's time for businesses to start learning about ATM," says William Berry, vice chairman of the Enterprise Network Roundtable Committee, an ATM user group in Foster City, Calif. "By the time businesses are ready to make purchasing decisions, many ATM standards will be in place."

But most businesses will likely hold off moving to ATM until cost issues are clarified and prices for ATM services are lowered. Right now, "prices are all over the map for the same configuration," says Farrokh Billimoria, VP of Bankers Trust Co. in New York, which is considering putting in an ATM network.

CSC project manager Gould agrees: "We don't know what the costs are right now. That hurts us." While ATM will help NASA reduce its transmission costs in the long run, "we realize we're going to pay a price up front," Gould says. In fact, such "conversion costs may swamp any savings for many years," predicts John McQuillan, an independen t consultant in Cambridge, Mass.

Coming Down
Still, prices are sure to fall. "We'll see ATM prices for LAN hardware fall substantially as we move more vendors to ATM equipment," says Newbridge's Ali. By the end of 1995, a 155-Mbps network adapter card will drop from more than $1,000 to $500 or less, predicts Ron Jeffries, an ATM consultant in Santa Maria, Calif.

Analysts say wide area ATM network pricing still needs to move to a pay-as-you-go format. Only MCI promises usage-based pricing in 1995. "ATM will gain momentum as carriers start pricing services to gain market share," says Bard Haerland, VP of worldwide telecommunications for Unisys Corp. in Blue Bell, Pa.

It will take time for users to make the move to ATM. While a lot of standards-based ATM products and services will be out this summer, industry experts believe it will be another two years before network managers can readily buy the ATM equipment they need for full implementation.

Some organizations are not waiting . One is Concurrent Technologies Corp. (CTC), a Defense Department contractor in Johnstown, Pa., with more than 120 Unix workstations and 250 desktop PCs and Macintoshes.

Last year, CTC found that its existing Ethernet networks couldn't provide the performance it needed. The supplier considered moving to switched Ethernet or FDDI (fiber distributed data interface) but decided against them because "they're not scalable and provide only bandages to our problem," says Michael Saverino, a CTC senior technical manager.

Instead, CTC chose ATM because it will allow the company to do its collaborative design review and videoconferencing online. "You never have to leave your desktop," says Saverino.

The University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville is running a 100-Mbps ATM link into an operating room that lets surgeons use software to plan and simulate brain surgery.

UVA also runs 155-Mbps links to two hospitals on the other side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, enabling UVA's trauma experts to read CAT s cans and X-ray images.

"I see medicine as a driving force for ATM," says John Goble, director of the UVA Neurosurgical Visualization Lab. "It supports the current philosophy of taking specialists out of the field and putting them in a centralized place creating the economies of managed care."

Other industries are also interested in ATM. Amoco, for example, launched an ATM Research and Industrial Enterprise Study (Aries). The ATM trailblazer built a prototype Aries network at a cost of several million dollars as a scale model of the company's international network. Aries links Chicago, Houston, Minneapolis, Naperville, Ill., and Tulsa, Okla.

Now Testing
Amoco is testing the movement of large data files, interactive applications, collaborative engineering projects, and real-time video. It's also testing how well its current networking protocols--TCP/IP and Novell's IPX--work with ATM.

At a recent demonstration in Washington, Amoco showed how ATM enables it to quickly assess oi l potential in the Gulf of Mexico. Amoco uses ATM to send 500-Mbyte seismic survey files via a NASA satellite to the Minnesota Super Computer Center for processing and analysis.

The result: Amoco cuts costs and boosts revenue by optimizing the bore holes it must drill in its search for oil.

Currently, Aries is the only test network that interconnects telephone carriers Sprint, Ameritech, and Wiltel. It also involves 14 other companies as partners.

ATM should get a boost this month at the Communications Networks trade show in Washington. In addition to a host of new ATM products, the ATM Forum's Enterprise Network Roundtable Committee will help potential ATM users get a better understanding of the technology.

The forum plans to provide two days of tutorials, and work on a mock request-for-information to show businesses how to analyze many of the questions involved in deploying ATM.

"Toward the latter part of '95 we'll start to see ATM move up the growth curve," predicts Jonathan Reeves, execut ive director of ATM at General DataComm, an equipment vendor in Middlebury, Conn. Consultant Jefferies agrees: "By the end of the year, you'll see some real success stories."

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