Modeling Traffic Management in ATM Networks with OPNET

Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is the new generation of computer and communication networks that are being deployed throughout the telecommunication industry as well as in campus backbones. ATM technology distinguishes itself from the previous networking protocols in that it has the latest traffic management technology and thus allows guaranteeing delay, throughput, and other performance measures. This in turn, allows users to integrate voice, video, and data on the same network. Available bit rate (ABR) service in ATM has been designed to fairly distribute all unused capacity to data traffic and is specified in the ATM Forum's Traffic Management (TM4.0) standard. This paper will describe the OPNET models that have been developed for ATM and ABR design and analysis.