Building a LAN backbone to support the enterprise

The LAN provides the backbone for a large enterprise network by tying together hundreds or thousands of nodes on connected LAN segments, thereby connecting work groups, linking clients to servers, and providing universal access to host computers. However, if the LAN backbone does not perform, the ne...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNetworking management Vol. 11; no. 4; p. 34
Main Author Bergal, Don
Format Magazine Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Tulsa PennWell Corporation 01.04.1993
Subjects
Computer architecture
Design
Interconnect
Local area networks
Methods
Peer to peer computing
Systems development
Trouble shooting
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Summary:The LAN provides the backbone for a large enterprise network by tying together hundreds or thousands of nodes on connected LAN segments, thereby connecting work groups, linking clients to servers, and providing universal access to host computers. However, if the LAN backbone does not perform, the network will fail in its mission to deliver information when and where users need it. For this reason, organizations must plan their networks carefully and choose the right architecture from the start. Designing a working, successful enterprise LAN that will accommodate growth as well as technological and topological change is possible if network planners install a flexible and scalable architecture from the outset. In reality, a hybrid network that uses both collapsed and distributed architectures as appropriate is the best approach, while a "tree-shaped" structure used to construct the FDDI backbone is deemed the more reliable topology.
ISSN:1052-049X