Archive-name: cell-relay-faq/part2
Last-modified: 1997/10/06
URL: http://cell-relay.indiana.edu/cell-relay/FAQ/ATM-FAQ/FAQ.html

NOTE!!!! If you are reading this FAQ as stored on some automated FAQ
archive site you would be better off to follow the above http link to
the most recent official version of this FAQ.  Not only may it be more
current but it will be better formatted than what you are viewing now!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
comp.dcom.cell-relay FAQ: ATM and related technologies (Rev 1997/10/06)
Part 2 - Introduction and Topic B of FAQ
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright =A9 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 Carl Symborski

Cell Relay FAQ - Introduction

The Cell Relay FAQ is posted periodically in multiple parts as a Usenet
News FAQ under the title comp.dcom.cell-relay FAQ: ATM, SMDS, and
related technologies. This FAQ is also maintained as a collection of WEB
pages (http://cell-relay.indiana.edu/cell-relay/FAQ/ATM-FAQ/FAQ.html).
The WEB pages will generally be more current than the posted FAQ.
In fact this FAQ is maintained as WEB pages then posted as a traditional
Usenet News FAQ every few months.

This article is the second of eight articles which contain general
information and also answers to some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
which are related to or have been seen in comp.dcom.cell-relay. This FAQ
provides information of general interest to both new and experienced
readers. It is posted to the Usenet comp.dcom.cell-relay, comp.answers,
and news.answers news groups every few months.

This FAQ reflects cell-relay traffic through August 1997.

If you have any additions, corrections, or suggestions for improvement to
this FAQ, please send them to carl@umd5.umd.edu.

I will accept suggestions for questions to be added to the FAQ, but please
be aware that I will be more receptive to questions that are accompanied by
answers. :-)

Enjoy!

Carl Symborski
Vice President - Engineering
SALIX Technology, Inc.

carl@umd5.umd.edu
cws@salix.com

Carl's home page is at
http://cell-relay.indiana.edu/cell-relay/FAQ/ATM-FAQ/carl/home.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cell Relay FAQ - Copyright Notice and Disclaimer

The Cell Relay FAQ is posted periodically in multiple parts as a Usenet
News FAQ under the title comp.dcom.cell-relay FAQ: ATM, SMDS, and related
technologies. This FAQ is also maintained as a collection of WEB pages.

Both versions are Copyright =A9 1992-1997 Carl Symborski and may be freely
redistributed in their entirety provided that this copyright notice is not
removed. They may not be sold for profit or incorporated in commercial
documents or CD-ROMs without the written permission of Carl Symborski.
Permission is expressly granted for this document to be made available for
file transfer from installations offering unrestricted anonymous file
transfer on the Internet. This article is provided as is without any
express or implied warranty. Nothing in this article represents the views
of the University Of Maryland.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

TOPIC B

INDUSTRY FORUMS AND VENDOR INFORMATION

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

  B1. How can I contact the ATM Forum?
  B2. What vendors are working on ATM technology?
  B3. What vendors are working on ATM hardware/chips?
  B4. What vendors are selling ATM test equipment?
  B5. Where are the ATM Forum's FTP sites and mailing lists?
  B6. What vendors are selling ATM software?
  B7. Information On Test Network Initiatives.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUBJECT B1)

                      How can I contact the ATM Forum?

Similar to the Frame Relay Forum, the ATM Forum is a pay to join forum with
over 500 contributing and auditing companies. Membership includes many
international companies. Some companies also participate in ANSI T1S1 and
other standards bodies. Audit membership of the Forum is $1500/year. Those
interested in joining the forum or needing additional information should
contact:

The ATM Forum
303 Vintage Park
Foster City,  CA 94404
ATM Info Line: +1 415 578-6860
ATM FAX Line:  +1 415 525-0182
Email: atmforum_info@atmforum.com

The ATM Forum also has a FAX-On-Demand service. Using this it is possible
to get instructions, order forms, membership applications, etc. Just dial
the number indicated above using a FAX phone and follow the instructions.

Note that the minimal entry to the Forum is as an Auditing Member. Auditing
Members are allowed access to the e-mail distribution lists to "audit" all
documentation but are NOT ALLOWED to make comments. Please note that
auditing members are not allowed to attend Technical and Market Commitee
meetings, not allowed to vote on issues and not allowed to submit technical
contributions.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUBJECT B2)

                What vendors are working on ATM technology?

It is tough to get a number on this. Increasingly there are companies with
hardware they can demonstrate. More who have made product announcements.
Many more who have stated product intentions. Some are building big central
office switches, others smaller ones for the LAN market. Workstation
vendors are working on ATM interface boards. Chip companies are working on
ATM chip sets, etc. There are now software vendors advertizing protocol
software stacks (Q.93B, etc.) suitable for inclusion in ATM products.

Way back in 1992 there was an attempt in this FAQ to list most of the major
players in the ATM arena. This was possible in 1992. Today however
*everyone* in the Enterprise Networking as well as in the TELCO market are
doing something with ATM. It is simply not practical to keep a fair and
accurate list in this FAQ.

Some postings on the cell-relay list (Fall 1993) attempted to again list
the current vendors developing and/or selling equipment in this technology
area. As predicted, these partial lists exceeded 40 vendors!

A good source for ATM Product information is "Communications Week", which
at least once a year has a special vendor article on ATM products from a
buying guide perspective.

Also, there is a growing list of ATM product vendor information building up
in the cell-relay directory at indiana.edu. See
http://cell-relay.indiana.edu/cell-relay/publications/InternetResources/ven=
dors/index.html
for the current list. This is a great launching point to numerous ATM
vendors on the WEB.

Other good starting points to find vendors who are producing ATM related
equipment include the atm forum's list of member companies as well as their
product and services guide. Surf the ATM Forum WEB site to find these
HTTP://www.atmforum.com.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUBJECT B3)

              What vendors are working on ATM hardware/chips?

As with ATM technology vendors, the number of companies developing board
level components is growing and is very hard to track. A good start is to
check the vendor information in the cell-relay directory. See subject A2
and subject C3 for general information about the cell-relay archives.

A free source of technical details on a large number of ATM silicon devices
is available on the ATM Chip WEB, a World Wide Web service maintained by
the Technical University of Chemnitz, Germany. The list provides contact
information on numerous ATM silicon producers. The English issue of the
data base is available both in Postscript and in HTMLized version over the
Internet via WWW at http://www.infotech.tu-chemnitz.de/~paetz/atm. The
HTMLized version contains links to other Web pages of ATM hardware vendors
and the access is free of charge.

There is also a very good commercially available publication covering ATM
components. It is called "The ATM Component Review" which is published
quarterly with subscriptions available. The ATM Component Review includes
details on available components and software for all ATM protocol layers.
Much of the information is not found anywhere on the WWW. Also, since this
is a commercial venture, the information is more timely and complete.
Subscription information and cost of this publication is available at:
http://www.tiac.net/users/kma.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUBJECT B4)

                What vendors are selling ATM test equipment?

There exist a number of vendors that have ATM test equipment available. To
name a few:

1. ATM-100, Wandel & Goltermann
     Tel.: +49 7121-862143
     Fax.: +49 7121-862054
2. ATM Test Tool, Siemens AG
     Tel.: +49 30-386-4173 7077
     Fax.: +49 30-386-7934
     The Siemens tool is the same as the Wandel & Goltermann tool
3. HP 75000 Series 90 ATM Analyzer, contact your local Hewlett Packard
   sales office
4. HP Broadband Series protocol test system,
     IDACOM Telecom Division,
     Hewlett Packard (Canada) Ltd.
     Edmonton, Alberta
     Canada T6E 5R6
     Tel.: +1-800-661-3868
     +1-403-462-4545
     Fax.: +1-403-462-4869
5. Alcatel 8643 ATM Traffic Generator Analyzer, and Alcatel 8640, Alcatel
   STR,
     Tel.: +41 1 4652860
     Fax.: +41 1 4652319
     or Alcatel Network Systems Inc., Richardson, TX
     Tel.: +1 214-996-5000
     Fax.: +1 214-996-5409
6. Adtech AX/3000 ATM Cell Data Generator, AX/3010 DS3 ATM Cell Data
   Generator
     1814 Algaroba St,
     Honolulu HI 96826
     Tel.: (808) 941-0708
     Fax.: (808) 946-1300
7. ATM-150 Portable ATM Cell Generator/Analyzer.
     Microwave Logic, Inc.
     285 Mill Rd. Chelmsford, MA 01824
     Tel: (800) 643-2167 x-223
     Fax: (508) 256-2038
8. ATM Sniffer
     Network General
9. CellBlaster
     Net2Net Corp
     508/568-0600
     508/568-8858 (fax)
     http://www.net2net.com

This list is provided for information purposes only. There is no implied
claim that this list is correct or complete.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUBJECT B5)

           Where are the ATM Forum's FTP sites and mailing lists?

The ATM Forum is a members only organization. It is a pay to join forum and
only members have direct access to Forum activities and documentation. It
has numerous mailing lists which are only available to members. However,
the ATM Forum does have WWW site located at:

http://www.atmforum.com/

Which is worth a visit!!! Additionally, most of the forum specs are now
available for FTP from the ATM Forum. The web page has a listing of what is
available and links to their FTP public specifications areas. Many, maybe
all, of their approved forum specs are available.

The ATM Forum FTP server is at ftp.atmforum.com/pub where you may find
subdirectories with other documents as well.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUBJECT B6)

                   What vendors are selling ATM software?

Several software vendors have been mentioned on this list. A few that come
to mind are:

  1. Trillium ATM software products (Signalling, PNNI, LAN Emulation, IP
     over ATM, B-ICI). See their web page at http://www.trillium.com for
     more information.
  2. Bellcore's signalling software product called Q.PORT. Surf their WEB
     page at http://www.bellcore.com/
  3. Cellware Broadband Communications GmbH signalling software product
     called CELL-Q.2931. See their WEB page at
     http://www.cellware.de/software/q2931.html
  4. Harris & Jefferies - See their WEB page at http://www.hjinc.com
  5. Telenetworks
  6. Telogy Networks

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUBJECT B7)

                  Information on Test Network Initiatives.

The CANARIE National Test Network.
     The CANARIE National Test Network is one of world's largest ATM Test
     Networks connecting over 60 ATM switches in 7 regional test networks
     spanning over 6000 kilometers with connections across Canada from
     Vancouver to St. John and now the world's first ATM test network to
     connect across the Atlantic via Teleglobe to Berlin and the ATM PNO
     test network at OC3 speeds.

     FAQ, network diagrams, test projects, ATM standards and other material
     is now accessible via the World Wide Web. The URL is:
     http://www.canarie.ca/ntn

The cell-relay retreat has pointers to other test/research network
initiatives at the following URL:
http://cell-relay.indiana.edu/cell-relay/publications/InternetResources/Res=
earch.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------