The November edition of the ATM User newsletter features an in- depth interview with John Drake, a principal engineer at FORE Systems who is responsible for PNNI and MPOA development. The interesting discussion touches on hot topics such as Gigabit Ethernet, RSVP and Integrated Services, but focuses primarily on the interrelation between switching and routing. Drake discusses the claims of IP Switching and says that the high performance figures attributed to some IP switches are much like the very idealized gigaflop numbers quoted by supercomputer manufacturers a decade ago. The big numbers are really just ATM switching performance, he says, but the actual performance of an IP switch is not going to be great because the routing function is not tightly integrated into the switching function.
Full text is posted online.
Radcom describes B-ICI as the ATM functional equivalent of the telephony SS7 protocol. It is used to establish ATM connections between public operators. The license also allows MFS to build and operate a cross-border network. MFS currently operates a fiber optic network in Paris, but has been restricted to providing services to a closed user group. The company said it expects that this new license will allow it to offer a broad range of services to a wider market and to carry traffic internationally over its own infrastructure.