Campus Data Networking Architecture:
Wiring
Current
wiring standards
as articulated in ResNet Phase 2
Request for Quotation
(spring 1994)
Required desktop connections
10Mb/s ethernet largely sufficient to desktops
100Mb/s+ ethernet likely required for some buildings, and perhaps some servers
direct high-speed connection (e.g., ATM)
Wiring standards
10-Base-2 (coax) is legacy wiring. Continue to support but at true cost.
10-Base-T over Category 5 is mainstream for 10Mb/s ethernet (shared or switched)
100-Base-X probably supporting 100-Base-T
Expect 100-Base-X adaptors built into workstation mother boards soon
Do
not
expect to need fiber to the desktop, or direct desktop support for FDDI/CDDI/native ATM too soon.
Expect to see auto-detecting 10Mb/s/100Mb/s ethernet cards for desktops soon
Would be useful to have a metric to help decide when a shared ethernet has too many stations.
For fault isolation, so impact of failures is limited to a small number of users.
To limit size of collision domain to keep performance reasonable.
To make segments small enough so additive impact of "out of spec" ethernets is tolerable.
Please address comments or questions to Dr. Noam Arzt,
arzt@isc.upenn.edu
[6/18/96]
URL: http://nextb.dccs.upenn.edu/noam/questnet96/arch/wiring.html