Congestion avoidance - used at the onset of congestion to minimize the effect on the network. Congestion recovery procedures - used to prevent network collapse in the face of severe congestion. 12.3 Asynchronous Transfer Mode Frame relay is designed to support access speeds up to 2 Mbps. No network layer and many of the basic functions have been streamlined or eliminated to provide for greater throughput. Even more streamlined than frame relay.
Info flow on each logical connection is organized into fixed-size packets, called cells.
Virtual path - a bundle of virtual channels that have the same endpoints. All of the cells flowing over all of the virtual channels in a single virtual are switched together. The use of small cells reduce queuing delay for a high-priority cell. Fixed-size cells can be switched more efficiently. ATM Traffic and Congestion Control High data rates and switching speeds of ATM networks mean that significant chunks of info can easily be lost.