Chapter 9: Extending Local Area Networks

Chapter 9: Extending Local Area Networks

The Search for the Perfect Network

People considering the purchase of a local area network often search for a single network design that will solve all of their problems. Network manufacturers engage in a similar search for a single product offering that will entice a wide range of customers. Neither group ever fully succeeds, as there are some important restrictions in the reality of networks.

Figure 9-1 shows the relationship between the bandwidth of local area network media and the cost of the network. In this figure, the cost of the media (and installation) is shown increasing modestly with bandwidth. The reason for this is that installation costs generally dominate, making it relatively unimportant whether one installs twisted pair or fiber optics. It is this part of local area network cost that generates the statement that ?in local area networks, bandwidth is cheap.? The media cost is not the whole story, however.

Figure 9-1: Bandwidth vs. Cost

The expense of driving the medium generally increases at a more rapid rate than the installed cost of the medium. The line drivers, modems, transceivers, etc., for high-bandwidth media generally require more expensive components than for low- bandwidth media. Furthermore, many high-bandwidth media such as broadband are multiplexed in some fashion, thus requiring modems or transceivers that are more complex than the devices used to drive low-bandwidth non-multiplexed media.

The control logic to drive high-bandwidth media is usually more expensive than that required to drive low-bandwidth...

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Local Area Networks: An Introduction to the Technology

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Chapter 9: Extending Local Area Networks

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