Difference (from prior major revision)
(author diff)
Changed: 34c34
ATM is a channel based transport layer. This is encompassed in the concept of Virtual Paths (VP's) and Virtual Circuits (VC's). Every ATM cell has a 8-bit Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) and 16-bit Virtual Circuit Identifer (VCI) pair defined in its header. As these cells traverse an ATM network switching is achieved by changing the VPI/VCI values. Although the VPI/VCI values are not constent from one end of the connection to the other the concept of a circuit is (unlike IP where any given packet could get to its destination by a different route to preceeding and following packets).
ATM is a channel based transport layer. This is encompassed in the concept of Virtual Paths (VP's) and Virtual Circuits (VC's). Every ATM cell has a 8-bit Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) and 16-bit Virtual Circuit Identifer (VCI) pair defined in its header. As these cells traverse an ATM network switching is achieved by changing the VPI/VCI values. Although the VPI/VCI values are not necessarily consistent from one end of the connection to the other the concept of a circuit is (unlike IP where any given packet could get to its destination by a different route to preceeding and following packets).