service from a high-speed service is simply the rate at which cells are generated for the two services. A few words should also be spent on the rationale behind the ATM cell size. The cell header size is 5 bytes, as it is intended to carry the identifier of the virtual circuit for the cell and a few other items of information, such as type of cell, a control code, etc. The cell payload size is a much more critical parameter. In fact larger cell payloads would reduce the cell over- head, which results in bandwidth wastage, but would determine a larger number of partially filled cells, especially for services with short information units. On the other hand real-time services, for which a bounded network delay must be ensured, call for small cell payloads owing to the fixed delay determined by the packetization process. The objective of also sup- porting voice services in the ATM network together with data and image services, suggested that the cell payload should be limited to 32 bytes, which implies a packetization delay of 4 ms for a 64 kbit/s voice source. In fact in order to avoid the use of echo cancellers in the analogue subscriber loop of a POTS network interworking with an ATM network the one-way delay, including packetization and propagation delay, should not exceed a given threshold, say 25 ms. As a compromise between a request for a cell payload of 64 bytes, thought to better accommo- date larger information units, and 32 bytes, arising from voice traffic needs, the payload size of 48 bytes has been selected as standard by the international bodies.