Short for LAN emulation. LANE is a protocol that allows existing networked applications and protocols to run over an ATM backbone. LANs are connectionless while ATM is a connection-oriented technology. LANE provides a means for ATM hardware and networks to communicate with existing Ethernet and Token Ring networks. LANE works at the MAC (layer 2) networking layer of the OSI model and therefore supports both bridging and routing.
The main objective of LAN emulation is to allow existing applications to access the ATM network by way of MAC drivers as if they were running over traditional LAN’s. Standard interfaces for MAC device drivers include NDIS and ODI. These interfaces specify how access to a MAC driver is performed. LANE provides these interfaces and services to the upper layers of the OSI model.
