- Is the ATM Switch connecting to another ATM Switch at the far end of the satellite link?
- Is the ATM Switch connecting to a non-ATM Network at the far end of the satellite link?
In the first instance, the Satellite Link would have to carry ATM point-to-point between the ATM Switches. This requires that the Serial Module on the AP3000 can support ATM cells. This Serial ATM Module would then connect to the Serial Satellite Modem to enable a seamless connection end-to-end. At the far end of the Satellite link a second AP3000 would be required to reconvert Serial back to ATM This Can be seen in the diagram below.
In the second instance, it is more than likely that the ATM Switch is providing back-haul across an ATM network. As such, the Serial Module on the AP3000 does not need to support ATM cells, as the data it is receiving is not ATM It might be encrypted though, but as the Serial Module transports a bitstream of data it doesn't matter to Metrodata if the data is encrypted or not. This can be seen in the diagram below.
Interestingly enough, there are only a finite number of ways of connecting an ATM Switch to a Serial Satellite Modem. Which Satellite Modem interface is used, tends to depend upon the intended data rate of the link.
Standard operations are:
- EIA530/TTL would be used at speeds up to 10Mbits
- HSSI would be used at speeds up to 52Mbits
- ASI would be used above 52Mbits
But, EIA530 on a Satellite Modem can go to 20Mbits, HSSI to 90Mbits and ASI over 155.5Mbits.
Metrodata support the following standard ATM interfaces:
- E1 - 2.048Mbits
- E2 - 8.448Mbits
- E3 - 34.368Mbits
- DS-3 - 44.736Mbits
- OC-3 - 155.52Mbits
We also have the following AP Modules available that support ATM cells. These can be used to connect ATM Switches together over a satellite link:
- HSSI ATM UNI Module
- ASI ATM UNI Module
If you have a requirement to use EIA530 Satellite Modems to connect ATM Switches together, please let us know. The only reason we haven't made this yet is that no one has asked us for it.
If you simply want to connect a Serial Satellite Modem into an ATM Network, then we have several NON-ATM Serial Interface Modules. These are:
- Flexi HSSI Module
- Flexi EIA530 Module
- ASI Module
These have been tested with a variety of different Satellite Modem Vendors Equipment including Newtec, Comtech EFDATA and Radyne Comstream.