Data communication needs for higher education-the University of Waterloo experience

Some of the present and future data communications needs of the University of Waterloo, as presented by both the users and the management of the University network, are discussed. It is suggested that the LAN (load area network) system or extended LAN on a university campus should be designed more like the telephone system, whereby a number of disjoint LANs are interconnected with multiple connections by intelligent gateways which operate at least at the OSI network level. These gateways could run application programs which provide functions for measurement, routing, user interfaces, and protocol and file conversion. By embedding this processing capability in an extended LAN, campus networks should be able to adapt to meet future diverse user demands.<>