Ignore the Gigabit Ethernet vs. ATM war
✍ Scribed by Gilbert Held
- Book ID
- 101284690
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 9 KB
- Volume
- 8
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1055-7148
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Ignore the Gigabit Ethernet vs. ATM War
A few years ago, industry pundits led us to believe that the future was ATM; that from the desktop to the WAN this new technology would solve every problem known to man, and then some. A few short years later the same pundits are now telling us the future is Gigabit Ethernet, and that ATM to the desktop is dead. With such a clear crystal ball, the vision these pundits are providing is anything but clear and causes a considerable degree of confusion among network managers and LAN administrators who are attempting to plan for the future. Is ATM to the desktop dead? Is Gigabit Ethernet the answer to network congestion? Or should we continue to do that most rational of human endeavors and think logically about our requirements and then analyze the different technologies against those requirements? Unlike some types of clothing which is marketed as 'one size fits all', in my personal experience there is no umbrella or unifying network technology that is best for everyone. The pundits who tell us to invest in a particular technology one year, and hype another in a few years time,do a disservice to their credibility, as well as to their readership.
In the upcoming Gigabit Ethernet vs. ATM war, it is more than likely that there will be no clear winner. Most networks are designed to provide a transmission capability for applications that in many cases are unique to an organization. Some organizations may very well require a quality of service to the desktop that only ATM can now provide. In other organizations, I cannot imagine Gigabit Ethernet ever going to the desktop. Instead, it will primarily be displayed as a backbone technology that will compete with Fast Ethernet, FDDI, and ATM for market share. Thus, all the hype claiming that ATM has problems due to the emergence of Gigabit Ethernet is simply that-hype. Network managers and LAN administrators should continue to do what we are paid to do and ignore the verbal hype of pundits who are more often wrong than right. That is, we should compare and contrast competing technologies against our network requirements with an open mind, ignoring hype, and concentrating on solving our current and anticipated requirements in a cost-effective manner.
While this may mean that some of us will select Gigabit Ethernet for backbone operations, it also means that others will turn to Fast Ethernet, FDDI, and ATM. Thus, the only war is in the minds of pundits trying to get attention for their point of view. As my Macon TV announcer would say 'That's my opinionwhat's yours?