End-to-end performance analysis for broadband island interconnection via satellite-RACE II/R2074 (Catalyst) project

The authors present an overview of project R2074/Catalyst, an attempt to demonstrate the applicability of satellites in the provision of broadband island interconnection across Europe. This project, which is part of the RACE II initiative, will set up a demonstrator network to implement the interconnection of various LAN architectures. The authors focus on a study of the expected user performance through the Catalyst network based upon mathematical and simulation models. They investigate the performance of a mix of client/server architectures using Novell NetWare and NEtwork File System protocols, which are supported by either the IEEE 802.3/Ethernet LANs, linked via LAN/ATM/satellite interface units. Areas of further investigation, and the implication of the author´s analysis on the actual network architecture are discussed