Although ATM networks have changed little since ATM technology was first introduced, new open standards for ATM device and network architecture have the potential to usher in many new changes.
The move to open architecture has been discussed in the industry for many years; recent years have seen a decided shift of ATM models in this direction. Despite the many various changes, Level Four says the most revolutionary developments have been an open software layer that abstracts ATM hardware from the application software that drives it and the evolution of an industry standard message protocol for communications between ATM and host. Level Four's white paper discusses these technologies and standards, as well as the benefits of open architecture ATMs and implications for testing.
