Unnoticeable Jitter in ATM Workstation Configurations

We evaluate the variation of inter-cell arrival times, namely jitter, as seen by a workstation. We present experimental results of actual jitter measurements on the FORE ASX200BX switch and a Pentium workstation running Linux. We analyze how the ATM network card device driver on a workstation perceives the jitter introduced by the network. We conclude from our data that the cell clumping that takes place at the ATM network card often negates any jitter introduced by the network. These findings contradict conventional analytical evaluations that claim that jitter significantly affects real-time end-to-end performance.