ATM support in a transparent network

The plaNET network espouses the philosophy of "transparency" and flexibility. In other words, the network is designed to support a variety of different routing modes and packet formats, thereby permitting user traffic to be carried through the network with minimal modification or repackaging. The concept of transparency may, at first glance, appear to require excessive complexity within the network. In this paper we show how the variable-size packet, source-routing design upon which the plaNET system was originally based is easily extended to provide support for ATM cells. We examine the issue of simultaneously supporting various routing modes and packet formats, mostly from the point of view of the necessary additional hardware and functionality. In particular, we focus on the components and processing needed to transparently support and take advantage of ATM in a plaNET network. A major conclusion is that it is possible to combine the best attributes of variable size packets, source routing, cell routing, etc. without adding significantly to the cost of the network.