A Systems Perspective on Local Area Networks

Now that LAN technology has matured and a plethora of vendor products are available, the appllication of a systems approach for selecting local communications systems is very important. Vendor and systems approaches are first contrasted by examining the needs of the user versus the incentive to sell a product. Attention is then turned to the systems approach with concentration on local communication requirements definition. Requirements definition is discussed in terms of traffic characterization, functions, performance, and constraints. Lastly, strategies for allowing the marketplace to generate multiple viable architectures from which to choose are presented.