FAULT TOLERANT LANE SYSTEM

A system and method are disclosed for providing a redundancy scheme in an ATM network providing a LAN emulation. The ATM network includes a set of LAN Emulation Connection Servers (LECS's) which connect with each other to determine which servers are operational and to automatically select an operational master LECS. The master LECS maintains a back end verification circuit with a set of operational LAN Emulation Servers (LES's), determines which operational LES will be the master LES, and directs LAN Emulation Clients (LEC's) to that LES. LEC's which lose their LES connection are directed to the proper LECS by a table stored in the ATM switch.