Description of Windows 98/Me Asynchronous Transfer Mode Support

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Windows adds support for ATM and connection-oriented networks through network driver interface specification (NDIS) 5.0. On connectionless networks such as Ethernet networks, computers do not wait to establish a connection before sending packets; they simply forward the packets. The sending and receiving computers perform complex error checking to ensure the packets arrive at their destination. In contrast, on connection- oriented networks such as ATM networks, two computers must establish a connection before either computer can transmit data. NDIS 5.0 supports multiple virtual circuits on one network adapter. Computers use signaling protocols to establish virtual circuits.

On ATM networks, the signaling protocols can establish a particular Quality of Service (QOS), during call setup. The QOS parameters defined by the ATM standards are used to negotiate the following network attributes:

• Peak bandwidth (average or peak bit rate available)
• Latency (the maximum acceptable delay between transmission of a bit and its receipt by the receiver)
• Delay variation (the difference between a packet's minimum and maximum delay)

The following Windows 98/Me ATM components can be installed using the Network tool in Control Panel:

ATM Call Manager

ATM Call Manager implements the ATM User Network Interface signaling protocol for communicating with an ATM switch using an NDIS 5.0 miniport driver.

ATM Emulated LAN

ATM Emulated LAN creates an ATM local area network (LAN) device on which transport protocols such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) can operate.

ATM LAN Emulation Client

The LAN Emulation Client implements the protocol to emulate a LAN device over an ATM connection.

For more information about ATM and the ATM network components included with Windows 98, please see "Architecture for the Network Driver Interface Specification" in Chapter 29 of the Microsoft Windows 98 Resource Kit.