Internet and asynchronous transfer mode networking: a philosophical comparison

Since their inception, IP and ATM networking philosophies have essentially been evolving independently of each other, but they have now reached the point where it is becoming increasingly obvious that their networking visions are rapidly converging. Consequently, continued independent evolution is unlikely, and many debates have been, and still are, raging within the international networking research community regarding their respective pros and cons. Despite this, however, it is still very unclear as to whether their differences are inherent, different implementation trade-offs or simply an indication of different standardisation decisions having been made during their development. It is the aim of this paper, therefore, to compare and contrast IP and ATM as if they are equivalents, rather than being interworked, and to consider whether or not their networking principles can be considered to be simply special cases of a more generic set; should this prove to be the case, the only distinction between them could ultimately be that they are defined by different standards bodies