The ATM Forum reported progress on several fronts from its quarterly meeting earlier this month in Vienna, Virginia. Highlights of the meeting included:
- a continued focus on the interworking of ATM and MPLS. A new specification that enables PNNI to support MPLS label distribution went to final ballot. The new specification provides an easier means of using MPLS to bridge two separate ATM networks (ATM-MPLS-ATM). Previously, manually configured permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) were required to route ATM traffic into an MPLS backbone. Alternatively, the new specification could be used by a network operator to drop pockets of MPLS into an ATM backbone.
- the ATM-MPLS Network Interworking specification 2.0 advanced to final ballot. The work defines the means of preserving ATM QoS over an MPLS backbone.
- work continues on integrating ATM and IP addressing schemes, making it possible to give ATM devices an IPv4 or IPv6 address.
- work also advanced on ATM -- SIP interworking, where the goal is to provide mapping between SIP and ATM SVCs
- the ATM Forum's quarterly meeting was collocated with the Broadband Content Delivery (BCD) Forum.
In conjuction with its quarterly meeting, the ATM Forum hosted a Broadband Exchange event, bringing together technical experts to discuss architectural issues for mobile and wireless networks. Topics of interest included the use of ATM to carry data traffic in 2.5 G networks, as well as the use of packet technologies to save money by consolidating and replacing TDM trunks. For instance, Digitel, which provides mobile services to more than a million subscribers in Venezuela, is using IP/ATM to reduce the cost of leased bandwidth between its MSCs.
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