ATM, however, is connection oriented in nature.
Transmission occurs on virtual channels established prior to transmission.
In order to accommodate the internetworking of more traditional connectionless LANs and MANs across public wide area networks like B-ISDN, a means by which connectionless service can be provided on top of connection oriented technologies must be devised. This paper surveys architectural and conceptual alternatives that have been proposed and explored as ways to provide connectionless services in public ATM environments.