What is Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)?

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a transfer protocol with the following characteristics:

• It is scalable and flexible. It can support megabit-to-gigabit transfer speeds and is not tied to a specific physical medium.
  
  
• It efficiently transmits video, audio, and data through the implementation of several adaptation layers.
  
  
• Bandwidth can be allocated as needed, lessening the impact on and by high-bandwidth users.
  
  
• It transmits data in fixed-length packets, called cells, each of which is 53 bytes long, containing 48 bytes of payload and 5 bytes of header.
  
  
• It is asynchronous in the sense that although cells are relayed synchronously, particular users need not send data at regular intervals.
  
  
• It is connection oriented, using a virtual circuit to transmit cells that share the same source and destination over the same route.

For more information, visit the IP/MPLS Forum site, a non-profit organization of ATM developers.

Note: ATM is also an acronym for "Adobe Type Manager".

Also see:

• In networking, what are bandwidth, latency, and speed?