Upcoming applications have demanding communication needs. One requirement is the provision of a reliable high performance multipoint communication service. If a reliable service in ATM networks is based on traditional transport protocols like TCP, severe performance degradations may be observed. Additional problems occur for the provision of a reliable multipoint service, where errors occur more frequently, and where transmitters need to deal with many receivers. In order to meet performance requirements of demanding applications, suitable error control schemes are required which allow an efficient use of network resources and which scale well for large groups. This paper presents a novel concept for support of reliable multipoint communication in ATM networks, based on a new adaptation layer protocol, called Reliable Multicast Service Specific Convergence Sublayer (RMC-SSCS), and on a new network element, called Group Communication Server (GCS). The functionality of the adaptation layer protocol and the group communication server are described, and a basic implementation architecture for the server is proposed. For the deployment of a GCS in different communication scenarios, achievable efficiency improvements are analysed.
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