European trials: from ATM to IP

During the last decade, the European Union (EU) created the RACE programme (Research and Development in Advanced Communications Technologies for Europe) and the ACTS programme (Advanced Communications Technologies and Services). These programmes played a key role in developing the crucial technology for networking with asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and Internet protocol (IP). ATM promised to provide a high performance networking platform for new broadband multimedia communications while allowing simultaneous conveyance of existing voice, data and broadcasting services. IP provided the flexibility and pervasiveness to impose itself as a common, necessary, networking standard. European collaboration through the RACE programme resulted in world standards for the ATM system in the early 1990s. "Operational Trials" of high performance networks were performed as part of the ACTS projects and the TEN-IBC programme, which involved different types of users, applications, network operators (national hosts) and the European ATM network JAMES. The current ACTS projects are focusing on IP/ATM integration and next generation IP technologies which will be strongly promoted in the coming 1999-2002 Information Society Technologies (IST) programme.