32 Note that actual pricing is a function of several variables including time, and it is infeasible to capture
this without introducing complexity; a relative approximation meaningfully illustrates the price per bit
changes that occurred.
20 Chapter 1
speeds more compatible with those required in inter-LAN networking (connecting LANs
across a distance of tens of miles) and was well suited as a platform for the emerging data
services. Service Providers were, to a limited extent, already offering Ethernet-based
Point to Point (Ethernet extension) and Multipoint (transparent LAN) services.
The Failed Challenge of ATM and IP in the LAN
As a side note, it is important to mention two other technologies that also emerged
as candidate LAN technologies. Unlike the ones discussed previously, however,
these originated as technologies to be used in Service Provider networks but were
later positioned as LAN technologies as well to compete with Ethernet. They were
not successful.
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), a cell-based connection-oriented technology
that successfully focused on enabling a converged infrastructure beyond the LAN
(see ???Ethernet: Evolution Beyond the LAN???) and was positioned as a competitor
to Ethernet in the LAN in the 1990s.
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