ATM networks provide end-to-end QoS guarantees to connectionsfor their lifetime, in the form of bounds on delays, errors andlosses. Performance management involves measurement of theseparameters accurately and taking control measures if required, toimprove performance. This is very important for real time connectionsin which losses are irrecoverable and delays cause interruptions inservice. In this paper, we concentrate on delay monitoringmechanisms. After presenting the OAM standard for ATM and a fewsolutions in the literature, problems still remaining are formulatedand directions being pursued to obtain solutions are indicated.

This paper was published in the Proceedings of the 3rd Annual Conferenceon Advanced Telecommunications and Information Distribution ResearchProgram (ATIRP), pp. 259-263, February 1-5, 1999, University of Maryland,University College, MD.