On Mon, 29 Jul 1996, Tim Salo wrote:
I am not quite sure how an ATM switch becomes a "packet shredder," or even what a "packet shredder" is...
My point was that the term "packet shredder" doesn't seem to have any very precise meaning beyond perhaps the writer's desire to use a catchy phrase to indicate an attitude towards ATM.
I have always interpreted it as meaning a protocol below the IP level which breaks IP packets up into fragments for transport.
If an ATM has a 5% loss, i.e. 1 in every 20 cells is lost, then 0% of the IP traffic will get through. ...
Most anything with 5% loss is broken.
Just a worst case scenario intended to illustrate that in the case of ATM packet shredding, losses at the lower level (ATM) can have an effect at the higher level (IP) that is roughly 20 times as great. By now people have realized this and are attacking the problem many different ways, but the problem still does exist and is an artifact of the relationship between IP packet sizes and ATM cell sizes. Michael Dillon - ISP & Internet Consulting Memra Software Inc. - Fax: +1-604-546-3049 http://www.memra.com - E-mail: michael@memra.com