An innovative local area network architecture for native multimedia support

New communication technologies are being developed and new user requirements are growing due to advances in fiber optics providing high link capacity at low cost. Traditional solutions are based on processing resources of host and network nodes in order to optimize link utilization. A simpler and lightweight solution could be reached by a new approach for designing network protocols; our proposal is initially limited to the LAN/structured cabling system environment, not excluding a further extension to MAN/WAN support. The leading idea is a broadband network architecture, based on native flow control, dynamic resource allocation and reallocation, and synchronous, connection-oriented fast circuit switching. It will provide a service based on multi-rate channels with short setup time and fixed switching requirements, as well as applications with bursty asynchronous traffic. A project framework is presented addressing the most important issues; physical, data link and network layer functions, data transfer schemes and traditional TCP/IP compatibility