An FDDI-Based Solution for the Systems Management Department Computer Laboratory Network

This is a NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA report procured by the Pentagon and made available for public release. It has been reproduced in the best form available to the Pentagon. It is not spiral-bound, but rather assembled with Velobinding in a soft, white linen cover. The Storming Media report number is A434113. The abstract provided by the Pentagon follows: FDDI is one of the latest evolutions in shared-media technology. Original intended as a high-speed backbone tor interconnecting networks, it has become a viable alternative tor organizations that seek better response time and bandwidth capacity from their local area networks (LANs). However, this fiber- based standard is an expensive departure from the more similar, and perhaps more mature, IEEE 802 token-ring and Ethernet standards. Thus, developing an FDDI- based network may present considerable economic and technical risk to an organization. This study examines the application of FDDI technology as an upgrade to the Systems Management Department's token-ring network. It reviews the protocols that comprise the standard, addresses design considerations for developing an FDDI network, evaluates the existing token-ring LAN, and proposes an FDDI solution. This study concludes that the risks of implementing an FDDI- based upgrade, can be mitigated using an evolutionary design strategy.