Traffic experiments on the vBNS wide area ATM network

As asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks move from the design phase to the deployment phase, several theoretical assumptions and hypotheses made in the research literature can be evaluated. Experimental validation and verification is an essential component in the overall development of any novel technology. In this article the authors report the results of several controlled experiments measuring the transport of traffic in a wide area ATM network: the very high-speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS). We illustrate how the characteristics of a tagged traffic stream change as the traffic traverses the network. Also, IP applications traffic is characterized at the ATM level. Lastly, we comment on the validity of theoretical assumptions often made in the research literature.