IP over ATM overhead

Thu Mar 13 15:59:38 UTC 1997

> We are installing an ATM backbone connection and wondering what level 
> of overhead can be expected. ...

I wrote a paper on this subject a couple of years ago.  You can find
it at
	http://www.msci.magic.net/
under "Papers," the title is "Protocol Overhead in IP/ATM Networks",
or at
	ftp://www.magic.net/pub/overhead.ps

The level of protocol overhead depends on the medium, the AAL, and the
size of the transmission unit.  The best you'll do is to get 87% of the
raw bandwidth to the application (most of this is taken up by the lower
layers (ATM and below)), and this number can go as low as 70%.
-- 
John Cavanaugh                              EMail: johnc at msc.edu
Minnesota Supercomputer Center, Inc.
1200 Washington Ave. S                      Phone: +1 612 337-3556
Minneapolis, MN  55415                      FAX:   +1 612 337-3400