Service and network management strategies for ATM in wireless networks

Abstract

Backhaul facilities collectively represent a major expense item for a wireless service provider. Today, backhaul facilities based on time division multiplexing (TDM) are the most common way to connect base stations and mobile switching centers (MSCs) to transport bearer traffic, signaling, and maintenance data. Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology makes it possible for wireless networks to integrate voice and data transmission, to offer fast, simplified multiservice provisioning, and to consolidate facilities efficiently. However, because of its logical and physical characteristics, ATM can make network management significantly more complex. Therefore, a service provider may want to consider outsourcing ATM service to a separate wide area network (WAN) business unit or to an outside carrier. This paper describes a non‐disruptive approach to managing ATM services for wireless equipment, using a wireless element management system (EMS) as the control point in a market domain. ATM services are represented in the EMS as virtual clouds within each market domain.