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ATM address format frustration.

  • From: Allen Robel <robelr@netlab.indiana.edu>
  • Date: 10 Nov 1996 21:37:51 GMT

Hi,

Is anyone else as frustrated as I that the ATM vendor community can't come to 
agreement over something as simple as how ATM addresses should be entered or 
displayed to the end user?  Has the ENR raised this as an issue?

I've seen the following formats used on various user interfaces (some vendors 
even use different formats within their own product lines, gasp):

39 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 00 01 01 00 00 00 00 0c 35 43 40 00
39.000000000001010001010000.00000c354340.00
39.0000.0000.0001.0100.0101.0000.0000.0c35.4340.00
39.00.00.00.00.00.01.01.00.01.01.00.00.00.00.0c.35.43.40.00
3900000000000101000101000000000c35434000
39:00:00:00:00:00:01:01:00:01:01:00:00:00:00:0c:35:43:40:00
0x3900000000000101000101000000000c35434000
39-00-00-00-00-00-01-01-00-01-01-00-00-00-00-0c-35-43-40-00

This is more a plea to vendors than anything else.  It is hard enough 
troubleshooting ATM networks without having to deal with all these formats 
(i.e. is it immediately obvious to everyone that the above addresses are 
indeed the same?).  Personally, I much prefer:

39.0000.0000.0001.0100.0101.0000.0000.0c35.4340.00

because the esi and selector byte stand out, the groupings are not so big or 
so small as to become meaningless, and the punctuation stays mostly out of the 
way.

Again, personally, I think whoever came up with:

39:00:00:00:00:00:01:01:00:01:01:00:00:00:00:0c:35:43:40:00

ought to be denied their ice cream for a week. That format is *horrendous*!  
Please, please think about us users when concocting things like this.

Just venting,


-- 
Allen Robel                                    Area Code + Prefix: 812-855
Indiana University                      Office 0962, NetLab 3697, Fax 8299
http://www.netlab.indiana.edu/~robelr     mailto:robelr@netlab.indiana.edu