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Forward-thinking users are trying to determine the role Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) will play in the future of their networks, but strategic planning is being slowed by local and long-distance carriers that have yet to share their plans for ATM services.
Until it's clear how carriers plan to support ATM in their networks, what ATM-based services they envision and how they intend to price such services, users cannot determine whether ATM makes sense as a way to support emerging high-bandwidth applications across an enterprise.
Many hub, router and switch vendors have already laid out their ATM blueprints. But to date, only Sprint Corp. and Nynex Corp. have discussed plans to offer ATM service, and neither has divulged pricing.
The six other regional Bell holding companies, as well as AT&T and MCI Communications Corp., have not publicly announced their ATM strategies.
ATM promises a wealth of benefits for users building local-area internetworks and rolling out distributed applications. But for the technology to really prosper, carriers need to outline ATM deployment and pricing strategies as soon as possible.
If past experience is any guide, getting carriers to divulge ATM strategies may be difficult. Carriers, particularly local exchange carriers, have been known to hold back on committing to widespread deployment of advanced services, such as Integrated Services Digital Network, and instead wait for user demand to develop. That can lead a to perpetual loop problem--demand doesn't develop because services aren't widely available.
"The lack of carrier strategies is telling us there's no rush to do anything," says Paul Drimmer, a vice-president at The Chase Manhattan Corp. in New York and a potential ATM user. "But this might be a chicken-and-egg scenario. Do we need ATM service! availability before we start using ATM!, or do we make a commitment to the technology and push carriers to provide services?"
Drimmer says ATM could solve wide-area problems such as LAN-to-LAN connection. "We can't afford fixed! bandwidth between remote sites, so lack of action on the carriers' part! is restricting applications," he says.
"Lack of ATM! in the wide area is hurting everyone except the people who are not making it available," says Brian Bershad, assistant professor of computer science and an ATM researcher at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "What made...