Eliminating data traffic jams.

Technology developed at Ohio State University, Columbus, that lets data flow quickly and smoothly through a new kind of computer network will help improve interactive computer applications like telemedicine, videoconferencing, distance learning, and high-tech home entertainment. Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks simultaneously can transport multimedia data -- the digital components of text, graphics, audio, and video that create an interactive on-line experience -- from one computer to another at very high speed. This keeps multimedia data flowing steadily in ATM networks.

In traditional networks, such as the Internet, computers bundle long streams of data into manageable packets for travel. The packets may be large or small. As the packets flow along wires to their destination across town, across the country, or across the world, they sometimes get separated.

Individual packets may follow different electronic paths and arrive at their destination in the wrong order. Or -- just like cars trying to cross a busy intersection -- some may get caught in the slow traffic of the more congested areas of the Internet. Such errors and delays spell disaster for multimedia transmission.

"Thats why not many people can watch video on the internet," points out Raj Jain, professor of computer and information science. What most people see is just a single frame of the picture, and after a delay, the next frame. For continuous video, data must flow continuously."

Even though each new generation of networking equipment offers faster connection speeds, the packets still travel according to the same old strategy. "Speed alone doesn't offer the...