The ATM Lab at the University of Pretoria

The University of Pretoria’s ATM Lab provides opportunities to investigate and acquire hands-on experience in ATM related technologies and prepares postgraduate students for roles within a high speed networking environment. The ATM Lab will become a more integral part of “high speed network” related research and will also be included in the formal network curriculum. The learning experience not only prepares postgraduate students to work with new multi-vendor technologies with competence and confidence, but also to adapt to a working environment much affected by these technologies. This paper discusses the following practical ATM studies at the University of Pretoria’s ATM Lab: • Participation at the Telkom ‘95 exhibition • Interoperability issues between ATM switches from different vendors • Migration to an ATM LAN environment, and • Future ATM Pilot Network projects.