A VLSI implementation of a SMDS attachment unit over an ICI interface

The UNICORN project interconnects an Ethernet LAN with a MAN, a SMDS (Switched Multi-megabit Data Service) network, through a B-ISDN network based on SDH and ATM. In the realization of this project, three ASICs have been conceived, one for SDH, one for ATM, and the one presented in this paper, the MPC (MAN Protocol Controller) ASIC. We present the implementation of the ICIP (Inter-Carrier Interface Protocol) protocol on the MPC ASIC. This protocol is used over an ICI (Inter-Carrier Interface) interface to communicate with a SMDS network on a point-to-point basis. The MPC ASIC is used in the ICIP Network Adaptation Unit, a VME64 Double-Height board that can be integrated in the VME Bus to interconnect with the B-ISDN Internetwork Unit and the rest of the UNICORN project