Switched Multimegabit Data Service

(networking)

(SMDS) An emerging high-speed datagram-based public data network service developed by Bellcore and expected to be widely used by telephone companies as the basis for their data networks.

See also Metropolitan Area Network.

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SMDS

(Switched Multimegabit Data Service) A high-speed, switched data communications service offered by the local telephone companies for interconnecting LANs in different locations. It was introduced in 1992 and became generally available nationwide by 1995.

Connection to an SMDS service can be made from a variety of devices, including bridges, routers, CSU/DSUs as well as via frame relay and ATM networks. SMDS can employ various networking technologies. Early implementations use the IEEE 802.6 DQDB MAN technology at rates up to 45 Mbps.

Data are framed for transmission using the SMDS Interface Protocol (SIP), which packages data as Level 3 Protocol Data Units (L3_PDU). The L3_PDU contains source and destination addresses and a data field that holds up to 9188 bytes.

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References in periodicals archive

For example, the ATM concept already made an inroad into data communications when the cell-based DQDB (Distributed Queue, Dual Bus) protocol was standardized for IEEE 802.6 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) protocol and its corresponding service, Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS).

ATM network: goals and challenges

When Elite, an international chocolate manufacturer based in Israel, migrated its SMDS (switched multimegabit data service) network to ATM (asynchronous transfer mode), company network managers jokingly referred to its planned CBR voice (constant bit rate) service as Chocolate Bit Rate.

How sweet it is

(4) Long-distance carriers AT&T, Sprint, and MCI, and many of the larger telcos have announced their planned introduction during 1992-1993 of the very fast SMDS (switched multimegabit data service), which will provide broadband speeds of 155Mb/sec and up later in this decade.

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