This read-only INTEGER reports the IME (Interface Management Entity) type of the ATM device, userSide, networkSide, or symmetric, as concluded from the automatic interface-type determination procedure. An administrator checks this to confirm which role the switch settled into on a given link, since a mismatch (both sides believing they are userSide, for example) prevents proper UNI signaling. For example, an interface stuck failing to establish SVCs is checked via cwspOperIfcSide to see whether it negotiated networkSide as expected rather than colliding with a peer also configured as networkSide.