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Title: Delivery of very high bandwidth with ATM switches and SONET. [Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Synchronous Optical NETwork (SONET)]

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6887462

The choice of technologies for the delivery of very high bandwidth throughout a facility capable of ultimately achieving gigabits per second performance, is a crucial one for any high technology facility. The components of a high bandwidth delivery system include high performance sources and sinks in the form of central facilities (major mainframes, large file storage and specialized peripherals) and powerful, full bandwidth distributed local area networks (LANs). In order to deliver bandwidth among the sources and sinks, a ubiquitous inter-/intra-building cable plant consisting of single mode and multimode fiber as well as twisted pair copper is required. The selection of the glue'' to transport and interconnect the LANs with the central facility over the pervasive cable plant is the focus of this paper. A design philosophy for high performance communications systems is proposed. A description of the traditional problems that must be overcome to provide very high bandwidth beyond the narrow confines of a computer center is given. The advantages of ATM switching and SONET physical transport are explored in the structured design presentation. The applicability of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switching (interconnection) and Synchronous Optical NETwork (SONET) (transport) for high bandwidth delivery is described using the environment and requirements of Sandia National Laboratories as a context to examine the suitability of those technologies. The synergy and utility of ATM and SONET in the campus network are explored. Other methods for distributing high data rates are compared and contrasted to ATM and SONET with respect to cable plant impact, reliability/availability, maintainability, and capacity. Sandia is implementing a standards based foundation utilizing a pervasive single mode fiber cable plant, SONET transport, and ATM switching to meet the goals of gigabit networking.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
6887462
Report Number(s):
SAND-92-1295; ON: DE93004274
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English