| Abstract: | A growing market demand for high-performance voice, data, image and video networks, coupled with advances in high-speed technologies has heightened interest in broadband ISDN (BISDN) throughout the world. Network providers, equipment manufacturers and standards bodies are working jointly to accelerate the definition of BISDN interfaces in anticipation of emerging market opportunities. BISDN is being designed as the foundation upon which to implement very flexible, high-bandwidth, high-performance networks. A multiplexing concept called asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), which can offer bandwidth on demand at rates exceeding 150 Mb/s, high-speed packet switching, and an efficient protocol which adapts existing information streams into the ATM format are key attributes of the emerging BISDN network standards. This paper reviews the motivations behind BISDN, explains its key attributes and challenges and discusses possible strategies for evolving today's network toward BISDN. |
