Architecture and performance of HIPPI-ATM-SONET terminal adapters

The flexibility of the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technique to integrate diverse traffic using a single network platform, and the scalability of the synchronous optical network (SONET) to support various transmission speeds up to gigabit per second ranges, have contributed to the adoption of these standards in the future public telecommunications network. Presently, the networking of supercomputers and high performance workstations is widely based on the high performance parallel interface (HIPPI) standard. A number of efforts to allow the access of HIPPI networks to the public ATM/SONET network has resulted in different experimental Gigabit Testbeds such as CASA and Nectar. To provide the access of HIPPI-based local area networks (HIPPI-LAN) to the ATM/SONET network, HIPPI/ATM/SONET (HAS) terminal adapters could be deployed in instances where the cost of evolving the HIPPI network into a full ATM/SONET-based network is higher than that of a HAS interface. This article presents the architecture and performance of a 2.5 Gb/s HAS experimental prototype, which is a key component of the Nectar Gigabit Testbed. It identifies HAS implementation issues and presents possible solutions that can be extended to the implementation of future HAS devices. The HAS architecture is presented, as well as a discussion on flow control implications due to terminating the HIPPI protocol. The HAS performance is then shown through theoretical modeling and measured results