An ATM—InfiniBand router is configured for interfacing between an asynchronous transmission mode (ATM) network and an InfiniBand network, without a necessity of intermediate transport on a packet based network such as an Internet Protocol (IP) network. The router includes an ATM processor and a host channel adapter. The ATM processor is configured for generating ATM cells streams based on received InfiniBand packets, and recovering InfiniBand packet data from received ATM cells. The host channel adapter is configured for receiving the InfiniBand packets from the InfiniBand network and providing at least the payload data to the ATM processor, and outputting the recovered InfiniBand packet data onto the InfiniBand network. In addition, the ATM processor and the host channel adapter may be configured for mapping the ATM cells and the InfiniBand packets on prescribed virtual circuits and prescribed InfiniBand connections, respectively. Hence, the ATM—InfiniBand router operates as a call connection handler, enabling connections to be established across ATM and InfiniBand networks.