This case study describes the design of
an access network that allows a large number of remote sites to
communicate with an existing central-site network. The remote sites
consist of local-area networks (LANs) that support several
workstations. The workstations run transaction-processing software
that accesses a database located at the central site. The following
objectives guided the design of the access portion of the network:
- The existing network could not be
modified to accommodate access by the remote sites.
- The central site must be able to
connect to any remote site at any time, and any remote site must
be able to connect to the central site at any time.
- When choosing between alternative
technologies, choose the most cost-effective technology.
- The design must be flexible enough
to accommodate additional remote sites in the future.
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