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Bandwidth demand: the need for more speed
By Paul Korzenowski, The Preview
PCs are creating a ripple effect in corporations. As users become
comfortable with electronic mail packages, they send and receive more
messages. As departments install new multimedia applications, larger and
larger files travel from department to department. Corporate networks
throughout the U.S. are struggling to keep pace with dramatic, seemingly
never-ending transmission increases.
Consequently, more bandwidth is the networking theme at COMDEX. Vendors
hope nascent technologies, such as higher-speed Ethernet networks and
new modems, can help companies unclog network bottlenecks.
The need for higher-speed communications lines arises in three
locations: user desktops, backbone networks, and remote connections.
Different technologies are vying to boost network throughput in each
product segment. In the desktop area, a winner seems to be emerging but
with backbone and remote connections, the battles are just beginning.
Desktops represent the most common network connection and companies have
been slowly adding bandwidth there. Many corporations started with
shared LANs where groups of users all sent information over one LAN. As
the number of users rose, so did the amount of network traffic and user
response times slowed to a crawl.
Companies solved this problem by dividing one LAN into multiple LANs, a
process called segmentation. For instance, one 200-user LAN was broken
into two 100-user LANs or even four 50-user networks. Switching
represents the ultimate in desktop segmentation. In this case, each user
receives his own network connection.
Corporations are embracing switching. LAN switches will account for 64
percent of all shipments in 1997 compared to 47 percent in 1996,
according to The Dell1Oro Group, a Portola Valley, CA market research
firm.
Randy Krasner, the national accounts manager Northeast Computer
Supplies, a Clifton, NJ reseller, said Ethernet, which operates at
10Mbps, has emerged as the most common switched connection. The Dell1Oro
Group expects switched 10Mbps Ethernet products to account for $4.1
billion of the $11.2 billion worth of network equipment sold worldwide
during 1997.
Backbone ripple
The growing use of switched desktop connections is having a ripple
effect on backbone networks, which connect different departments. For
instance, a backbone LAN enables engineers to send documents to the
marketing department. Usually, a company dumps all of its department
traffic onto one backbone network. Because hundreds or thousands of
users rely on that network, a backbone network typically requires faster
transmission speed than a departmental LAN.
To boost backbone bandwidth, corporations are examining two networking
technologies: Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), which operates at
155Mbps, and Gigabit Ethernet, which has a speed of 1Gbps. "During the
past 12 months, a lot of theoretical comparisons have been made between
ATM and Gigabit Ethernet," notes Sam Alunni, a senior analyst for
networking at Aberdeen Group, a Boston, MA market research firm. "In
1998, vendors will begin shipping both types of products and customers
can discover the differences themselves."
While many users rely on department LANs, a growing number of workers
are now on the road or even working from home. In most cases, they have
used dial-up modems, which had a top operating speed of 28.8kbps, to
access data. But they need faster connections for graphic and multimedia
files.
Dial-up modem vendors outlined standards to double their devices1 top
speed to 56kbps, but the work sparked a controversy.
Ron Chan, a distribution channel marketing manager at Ascend
Communications, notes that vendors divided into two camps: one lead by
3Com and a second by Ascend and Lucent Technologies. The two sides have
begun rolling out their products so customers can decide which option is
best. In addition to dial-up modems, corporations have another remote
network access option: cable television modems. Slowly freed to pursue
new markets, cable television suppliers have turned their eyes to the
Internet access area. Patrick Stensson, an account executive at Vanstar
Corp., an Indianapolis, IN reseller, notes, "For about $50 a month, a
customer receives an Internet connection that operates almost 30 times
faster than dial-up modems." Because cable modems run on coaxial cable
wiring, they support transmission speeds as fast as 1.5Mbps.
To date, cable companies have moved slowly into the Internet area. "I
expect cable modem sales to boom in 1998 because the economics for users
and vendors are so enticing," predicts Vanstar1s Stensson. Booming
should be an accurate description all of the high-speed networking
technologies on display at COMDEX.
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