cells in frames (ATM) (CIF)

Cells InFrames(CIF) is a method with which ATM cells can be transmitted in Ethernet frames.

Header of Cells in Frame (CIF)

Ethernet frames have a variable frame length, which can be between 72 bytes and 1,526 bytes long; with ATM, on the other hand, the ATM cell is always 53 bytes in size. With the CIF process, the ATM cells can be packed into the Ethernet-compatible frames. This allows ATM cells containing data, voice and video to be transmitted over the Ethernet infrastructure. The use of Cells In Frames requires only an Ethernet ATM converter and a CIF module. The network cards remain unchanged, only an additional CIF layer is inserted via driver software.