An Analysis of Universal Multimedia Switching Architectures

Abstract

Distributed multimedia applications impose stringent and complex requirements on the switching and transport architectures of a network. An analysis shows that both synchronous transfer mode (STM) and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) can meet the bandwidth and performance requirements of the emerging multimedia applications. ATM becomes the technology of choice, however, since it can: Transfer multimedia traffic efficiently, via its channel sharing capability, Employ statistical multiplexing using cell‐switching to obtain high channel utilization, and Support connectivity eficiently in many‐to‐one, one‐to‐many, and many‐to‐many communications environments.

Switched digital video access networks

“…The user selects a movie. 10. The VIP requests a downstream ATM connection to the STT to carry the program (movie).…”