A ring protocol is proposed that allows voice and data traffic to coexist within the ring. This ring has the following distinct features: (1) it allows synchronous traffic such as voice and video to have a definite access to the channel within each packetization period (or frame); (2) it allows data messages to have a higher channel access priority provided that the synchronous traffic is not delayed by more than one frame; (3) it supports variable rate data circuits. Simulation results show that the data-message delay is much smaller than for other integrated services schemes. Urgent messages can be transmitted with a higher priority over voice. Since the voice packet delay is bounded within one packetization period, no time-stamping is needed and the voice loss can be completely avoided by reserving a sufficient number of slots. Continual speech reception is possible by synchronizing the speech regeneration process to the end of each frame. Since the ring is synchronized, gateway switching to external circuit-switched and packet-switched networks is very simple.>