The communication channel associated with a virtual channel connection (VCC) that provides for the transport of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cells among ATM active elements. A VCC is an association established at the ATM Layer between two or more endpoints for the purpose of user-user, user-network, or network-network information transfer. A VCC consists of the concatenation of virtual channel links (VCLs. ) A VCL is a means of unidirectional transport of ATM cells between the points where a VCI value is assigned and the point where the value is translated or removed. The VPI and VCI within the ATM cell header associates each cell with a particular VCL over a given physical link. The points at which the ATM cell payload is passed to the AAL for processing signify the endpoints of a VCC.