Trillium Digital Systems Inc. announces new PLOA software product supporting Classical IP over ATM.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 10, 1997--Trillium Digital Systems Inc. announced the newest addition to its Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) software product line.

The Protocol Layers Over ATM (PLOA) software product supports multiple data-transport protocol layers over common-connection management and encapsulation functions.

Trillium's PLOA supports the Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF) Classical IP over ATM, version 1 and version 2. In the future, Trillium plans to support additional protocol modules such as the ATM Forum's Multiprotocol over ATM (MPOA) and LANE 2.0.

Classical IP over ATM defines the protocols and procedures necessary for communication among end stations and/or routers running IPv4. These routers and end stations are connected to an ATM network to form a Logical IP Subnet (LIS). The communication between two IP systems in an LIS is performed over LLC/SNAP-encapsulated ATM connections.

In a Switched Virtual Circuit (SVC) environment, IP addresses are mapped to ATM addresses via a dynamic query resolution protocol, known as ATM Address Resolution Protocol (ATMARP), between a CIP client and a CIP server. In a Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC) environment, another protocol -- Inverse ATMARP (InATMARP) -- is used to map known PVCs to IP addresses.

There is an ongoing effort in the ATM Forum to develop a specification for supporting Multiple Protocols over ATM (MPOA). MPOA will allow routers to be deployed more efficiently over ATM subnets by avoiding router hops between ATM attached hosts.

Trillium, along with five other companies, is sponsoring the production of a white paper that will describe the benefits and technical aspects of MPOA. This white paper will be available from Trillium and other sources in May 1997.

Trillium Chief Technical Officer Larisa Chistyakov said: "We strongly believe our PLOA will provide the foundation for accelerating adoption of ATM technology. Our PLOA product will also be used as the base for our future MPOA and LAN Emulation 2.0 development efforts, and we believe will provide our customers an easy path to migrate from legacy applications to future ATM-based technologies."

Trillium's PLOA software has a highly modular design which easily supports various protocol modules. It features a state-of-the-art Virtual Channel Connection (VCC) sharing module that uses LLC/SNAP encapsulation. This module allows multiple protocols to share VCCs.

Trillium's PLOA software provides both CIP server and client functionality. It can be configured on an IP system to be used as a CIP client, a CIP server or a combination CIP client-server. When CIP client and server are co-located, they share the ATMARP information. The client obtains the required address mappings directly from the co-located server's tables.

Trillium's PLOA software allows multiple LISs to be supported over a single ATM interface, which is useful for "one-armed" routers and CIP servers. PLOA also supports multiple IP addresses for a CIP client on a single LIS, which is useful for routers running proxy ARP.

Trillium's PLOA software supports SVCs as well as PVCs. It supports ATM Forum UNI 3.0, 3.1, 4.0 and ITU-T Q.2931 signalling. The connection management module features built-in call setup profiles for default service categories to speed up the call setup process.

Trillium's PLOA software also allows the attached ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL) device to make its own resource management and VCC acceptance decision based on relevant call setup parameters. This setup provides maximum flexibility in using different AAL devices not constrained by a particular call admission control mechanism.

The PLOA software product interworks directly with Trillium's Q.93B product which provides ATM Forum UNI 3.0, 3.1, UNI 4.0 and ITU-T Q.2931 signalling. It also interworks directly with Trillium's AAL device driver products such as PMC-Sierra LASAR-155 and Fujitsu ALC/ATC/NTC.

Trillium deliverables include source software, documentation, a training course and technical support.

Trillium Digital Systems, a privately held company founded in 1988, develops, markets, licenses and supports standards-based portable and integrated communications software. Trillium offers software for the Signalling System 7 (SS7), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN), Frame Relay, V5, Software Fault Tolerance and X.25 communications protocols.

Trillium is a leading supplier of communications software technology to computer and communications equipment manufacturers. It has licensed its source software to more than 200 companies worldwide for use in a wide range of switching, network access, service platform, operating system and test equipment products.

Trillium communications software is written in the C programming language and is designed to be licensed in source form by manufacturers for integration into computer and communications products. Manufacturers license Trillium's software technology to significantly speed time-to-market, reduce the risk and lower the cost of developing and providing standards-based communications protocols within their products. -0- NOTE: Trillium and Trillium Digital Systems are registered trademarks of Trillium Digital Systems Inc. Other referenced trademarks are trademarks (registered or otherwise) of the respective trademark owners.

CONTACT: Trillium Digital Systems Inc.

Kim Billingsley, 310/442-9222

310/442-1162 (fax)

Web: http://www.trillium.com