ATM based B-ISDN access signalling

A proposal for a preliminary signaling system, which handles ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) point-to-point connections between two users or between a user and a specialized node is discussed. A specialized node supports services which require centralized resources within the network, such as connectionless or multimedia services. An example of this preliminary signaling protocol, which has been implemented in CSELT, is presented, and in particular the signaling functions within the ATM node prototype are analyzed. Considerations for a long-term signaling system, which will have to handle a multiplicity of call configurations, transitions among them during the lifetime of a call, and reconfigurations of attribute values for a connection, are also presented