Do ATM-based Exchange Points make sense anymore?

Fri Aug 9 20:13:04 UTC 2002

    > Personally, I don't believe that ATM is 'bad' for
    > shared-fabric exchange point. I mean, it works, and solves several
    > problems quite easy: a) it's easily distributed via SONET services to
    > folks who are not next to the ATM switch, b) it makes interconnection
    > between networks safer (ie, not dealing with broadcast issues on a
    > ethernet nap), c) virtual PI connections are easily accomplished, d) there
    > are varying degrees of interconnection speed (agreeably, less important),

All of the above are true of frame relay as well, which has the additional
benefit of not being funamentally incompatible with data networking.  :-)

    > e) it allows for things other than IP, or packet-based traffic to be
    > exchanged (a la Verizons' video-portal service) (agreeably, again, less
    > important).

Ah, yes, I agree with this entirely.  If you're building a voice exchange,
rather than a data exchange, ATM is excellent technology.  I believe
Vinnie can give us some personal experience on this front.

                                -Bill