RFC 1680 (rfc1680) - Page 2 of 7

IPng Support for ATM Services

RFC 1680             IPng Support for ATM Services           August 1994


   information.

   An IPng candidate should provide evidence that the mapping from an
   applications' IPng packets to ATM virtual circuit(s) can be
   accomplished in a heterogeneous Internet architecture keeping in
   consideration the gigabit/sec rates that IPng/ATM subnetworks will
   eventually be operating at.

1.  Introduction

   This paper describes parameters that are needed to map IPng (or any
   protocol operating above the link level) to ATM services. ATM is a
   "sophisticated" link level technology which provides the potential
   capability for applications at the TCP/UDP level to map to a single
   ATM virtual circuit for transport across an ATM network(s) customized
   to the network performance and traffic requirements for that
   application. This is a step above many of today's existing link
   technologies which can only support a single level of network
   performance that must be shared by all applications operating on a
   single endpoint.

   The future Internet will be comprised of both conventional and
   "sophisticated" link technologies.  The "sophisticated" features of
   link layers like ATM need to be incorporated into an internet where
   data travels not only across an ATM network but also several other
   existing LAN and WAN technologies. Future networks are likely to be a
   combination of subnetworks providing best-effort link level service
   such as Ethernet and also sophisticated subnetworks that can support
   quality of service-based connections like ATM.  One can envision data
   originating from an Ethernet, passing through an ATM network, FDDI
   network, another ATM network, and finally arriving at its destination
   residing on a HIPPI network. IPng packets will travel through such a
   list of interconnected network technologies as ATM is incorporated as
   one of the components of the future Internet.

   To support per application customizable link level connections, four
   types of ATM information should be derivable from the higher level
   protocol(s) like IPng. This ATM information includes: source and
   destination ATM addresses, connection quality of service parameters,
   connection state, and an ATM virtual circuit identifier which maps to
   a single IPng application (i.e., single TCP/UDP application). Some of
   these mapping  could potentially be derivable through information
   provided by proposed resource reservation protocols supporting an
   integrated services Internet [4].  However, the ATM virtual circuit
   identifier needs to be efficiently mappable from IPng packet
   information.





Brazdziunas