Greg, in theory I agree that ATM is a network, but in my experience it is actually used as a point to point technology. The reason for that is the one you give: connectionless just works better.
Brian Greg Daley wrote: > > Brian E Carpenter wrote: > > > > We can say it another way - ATM is a point-to-point technology tied to > > specific types of hardware. IP is an end-to-end technology that is > > independent of types of hardware. These are simply different roles. > > ATM will continue to be used, for example, between IP routers inside > > carrier networks. But it is IP that carries data from computer to computer, > > running across Ethernet, ATM, modems, and many other hardware layers > > on the way. That is why IP (especially IPv6) is the future. > > > > I think it is important to remember that ATM is a network too, > like IP, and is not just a link technology. > > Functionally, though, I think that the issue is more one of > "connection oriented" to "connectionless". The flexibility of > the connectionless packet switched network has allowed existing > media to be used at the link layer. > > In many cases, this has allowed IP's uptake where ATM has not > been able to be deployed. > > Greg Daley -------------------------------------------------------------------- IETF IPng Working Group Mailing List IPng Home Page: http://playground.sun.com/ipng FTP archive: ftp://playground.sun.com/pub/ipng Direct all administrative requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------
