The recent evolution of the communication scenario has profound implications for the role of communication satellites within the communication infrastructure. Indeed, it raises the possibility that the satellite be viewed not merely as a repeater but rather as a network node in its own right in a hopefully integrated space/terrestrial network. we draw attention to the new IEEE 1355 Standard for Heterogeneous InterConnect as a possible platform to support several onboard processing functions, including onboard communications and onboard ATM switching. The IEEE 1355 is a new serial bus standard which enables high- performance, scalable, modular, parallel systems to be constructed with low system integration cost. This IEEE 1355- based approach can satisfy many of the requirements of onboard communications and onboard ATM switching, e.g., size, flexibility, reliability, fault- tollerance, and high communication processing speeds. This made possible by using the highly integrated 1355 chipsets and performing protocol processing with multiple transputers in parallel. The IEEE 1355 approach also allows for easy expandability owing to its inherent design modularity.