Clearing Up Network Congestion
3
To be able to amply meet these needs, the IS department must provide the
following to users:
More bandwidth
Bandwidth on demand
Low delays
Data, voice, and video capabilities on the same media
Also, the network of today must be adaptable in that it must be ready to
suit the applications of tomorrow. In the not-too-distant future, networks
will need to be equipped to handle
High-definition imaging
Full-motion video
Digitized audio
In short, for an internetwork to realize its purpose, it must be able to effi-
ciently connect many different networks together to serve the organizations
that depend on it. This connectivity must happen regardless of the type of
physical media involved. Companies expanding their networks must over-
come the limitations of physical and geographic boundaries. The Internet
has served as a model to facilitate this growth.
Clearing Up Network Congestion
W
ith a combination of powerful workstations, audio and video to
the desktop, and network-intensive applications, 10Mbps Ethernet net-
works no longer offer enough bandwidth to fulfill the business requirements
of the typical large business.
As more and more users are connected to the network, an Ethernet net-
work's performance begins to wane as users fight for more bandwidth. As
when too many cars try to get onto a freeway at rush hour, this increased uti-
lization causes an increase in network congestion as more users try to access
the existing network resources. Congestion causes users to scream for more
bandwidth. However, simply increasing bandwidth can't always solve the
problem. A slow server CPU or insufficient memory on the workstations and
servers can also be the culprit, and these need to be considered as well.
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