ATM-based Parallel and Distributed Computing

The advances in processing and networking technology will make it feasible to develop parallel and distributed computing applications that run on a variety of networked computing resources. Using high-speed networks, these resources can work together to speed up both computations and I/Os, and can incorporate a large amount of memory. ATM network has the potential to achieve parallel and distributed computing across a network of computers interconnected by LANs, MANs, and WANs. In this chapter, we review the issues related to ATM technology, such as ATM basic concepts, ATM protocol layers, ATM congestion control, ATM switches, ATM interfaces, and ATM application programming interface. We also discuss how to use ATM networks to build parallel and distributed computing systems. We concluded this chapter by identifying the research activities required to achieve high performance parallel and distributed computing over ATM networks.