Selecting the Right Protocol

When you develop a network application, you can choose from a number of available protocols to base your application on. If your application needs to communicate over a certain protocol, you don't have many choices; however, if you are developing an application from scratch, TCP/IP is the way to go, at least from the point of supportability and commitment from Microsoft. AppleTalk, NetBIOS, and IPX/SPX are protocols included by Microsoft to provide compatibility with other operating systems and were at one time the staples for network programming. This was evident when Windows 95 was installed on network computers: the default protocols installed were NetBEUI and IPX/SPX.

With the explosive growth in the Internet, the great majority of companies, educational institutions, and others have made TCP/IP their protocol of choice. In Windows 2000, Microsoft also stresses TCP/IP. Now TCP/IP is the default protocol installed, and most networking services will be based on this protocol, lessening the reliance on NetBIOS. Additionally, when you find a bug in Microsoft's implementation of TCP/IP there is a quick response to post hot fixes, whereas for bugs in other protocols there might or might not be a fix, depending on demand.

This said, TCP/IP is the safe way to go when choosing a protocol to use in a networked application. Additionally, Microsoft is showing strong support for ATM networks. If you have the luxury of developing an application that will run exclusively on ATM networks, it should be relatively safe to develop it using native ATM from Winsock. Of course, users of TCP/IP should note that ATM networks can be configured to run in TCP/IP emulation mode, which runs exceptionally well. These factors are just a few among the many to consider, in addition to the protocol characteristics needed by any application you develop.