GOING GLOBAL WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR OFFICE

- USING NEW WAN TECHNOLOGIES.

ARUN MADAN .

1. ABSTRACT.

MANAGER - NETWORKING SERVICES (CORPORATE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT) , CMC LIMITED, 1, KILOKRI, RING ROAD, N. DELHI - 110014.

The p a p e r g i v e s an o v e r v i e w o f emerging computers and communication t e c h n o l o g i e s f o r Wide Area Networking, which make i t p o s s i b l e f o r a g l o b e l manager t o h a v e v o i c e , d a t a , f a s c i m i l e a s w e l l a s v i d e o i n t e r a c t i o n w i t h v a r i o u s p a r t s o f world.

2. NEW PARADIGM SHIFT.

A new paradigm sh i f t i s t a k i n g p l a c e i n the b u s i n e s s e n v i r o n m e n t . B y t h e y e a r 2 0 0 0 A . D . , i t i s e x p e c t e d t h a t m o s t s u c c e s s f u l o r g a n i z a t i o n s w i l l h a v e 91 obal o p e r a t i o n s . Manufac tur ing u n i t s i n some c o u n t r i e s w i l l be r e p l a c e d b y a s s e m b l y u n i t s w h i l e s o u r c i n g o f s u b - assembl ies w i l l be t h r o u g h c h e a p e s t p o s s i b l e g l o b a l s o u r c e s . Customers w i l l be s p r e a d o u t i n m u l t i p l e c o u n t r i e s , pro>c.ts w i l l D e e x e c u t e d g l o b a l l y .

Managing p r o j e c t s i n t h e b o r d e r l e s s world i s a major c h a l l e n g e f a c e d by t h e g l o b a l i s i n g b u s i n e s s e s .

'' I have a p r o j e c t p r e s e n t a t i o n w i t h m y Japanese c l i e n t i n Tokyo i n t h e morning, a d e s i g n m e e t i n g w i t h t h e e n g i n e e r i n P a r i s i n t h e a f t e r n o o n and a b r i e f i n g w i t h t h e a r c h i t e c t i n N e w Y o r k b e f o r e h i s o f f i c e c l o s e s a t 5.30 pm ''

I' I m p o s s i b l e ! Not e v e n w i t h f a s t e s t p r i v a t e j e t ", one might say,.

But w i t h the h e l p o f new c o m p u t e r s and communicat ions t e c h n o l o g i e s , a l l these three m e e t i n g s can be c a r r i e d o u t f a c e - t o - f a c e w i t h o u t l e a v i n g o f f i c e y e t l e a v i n g t i m e t o c a r r y o u t o t h e r o f f i c e r o u t i n e .

3 . NEW WIDE AREA NETWORK.

ISDN . . . C l i e n t S e r v e r ... Mult imedia ... ATM ... Frame R e l a y ...

These and o t h e r key t e c h n o l o g i e s a r e a l l p a r t o f t h e N e w Wide Area Network. These new t e c h n o l o g i e s make i t d i f f i c u l t t o p i n - p o i n t where L A N s ( L o c a l . A r e a N e t w o r k s ) e n d a n d W A N s ( W i d e A r e a Networks) b e g i n . The i n e v i t a b l e merging o f n e t w o r k s u s i n g r e c e n t t e c h n o l o g i e s - t h e new W A N - makes i t p o s s i b l e f o r two p a r t i e s t o c o n d u c t - f a c e t o f a c e d i s c u s s i o n r i g h t f r o m t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e d e s k t o p t e r m i n a l s and i n f u l l c o l o u r . Documents, drawings c h a r t s , c o n c e p t s and p r o d u c t s c a n be d i s p l a y e d o n t h e t e r m i n a l . Any p a r t y , n o m a t t e r how f a r away can react, v o i c e t h e i r o p i n i o n s and make c h a n g e s t o t h e s h a r e d d o c u m e n t s d i s p l a y e d on the t e r m i n a l .

T h e n e w W A N b r e a k s t i m e a n d s p a c e b a r r i e r s by p r o v i d i n g an a l t e r n a t i v e t o t r a v e l i n g .

3.1 I S D N .

I n t e g r a t e d S e r v i c e s D i g i t a l Network h a s been a . l o n g t i m e coming. ISDN u s e s range f rom v o i c e t o f u l l mot ion v i d e o and h i g h speed d a t a t r a n s f e r . ISDN could n o t be d e l i v e r e d t o t h e g e n e r a l p u b l i c d u e i n a b i l i t y of t h e t e l e p h o n e s w i t c h e s i n mos t c o u n t r i e s t o d e l i v e r i t . But now many t e l e p h o n e companies a r e upgrading t h e i r t e l e p h o n e s w i t c h i n g e q u i p m e n t ,

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ISDN a p p e a r s t o be h e a d e d t o w a r d becoming a r e a l i s t i c o p t i o n f o r l i n k i n g remote LANs.

ISDN service a l l o w s a u s e r w o r k s t a t i o n o r LAN-to-LAN b r i d g e s and r o u t e r s t o i n t e r c o n n e c t u s i n g d i g i t a l t e l e p h o n e c i r c u i t s . ISDN b a s i c r a t e i n t e r f a c e ( B R I ) p r o v i d e s 6 4 k b p s b e a r e r ( B ) c h a n n e l s and o n e 1 6 k b p s s i g n a l i n g ( D ) c h a n n e l . ISDN a l s o d e f i n e s a service known a s p r i m a r y r a t e i n t e r f a c e ( P R I ) , which p r o v i d e s 23 64 k b p s B-channels and one 6 4 k b p s s i g n a l i n g channel . (1)

ISDN i s s i g n i f i c a n t l y better i n ' severa l ways t h a n u s i n g modem c o n n e c t i o n s . C a l l s e t - u p and c o n n e c t t i m e i s very f a s t , w h i l e throughput and q u a l i t y o f d i g i t a l l i n k i s h i g h . W i t h c o m p r e s s i o n B R I performance can h i t 400 kbps . (1)

I S D N B R I u s e s e x i s t i n g t e l e p h o n e c a b l i n g b u t r e q u i r e s a d d i t i o n a l e q u i p m e n t and s o f t w a r e drivers . I S D N c o n n e c t i o n s better s u i t more t r a n s a c t i o n o r i e n t e d t r a f f i c , s u c h a s e l e c t r o n i c m a i l , d a t a b a s e a c c e s s , r e m o t e management and occas ional da ta t r a n s f e r .

3.2 C l i e n t S e r v e r

C l i e n t Server h a s i t ' s p l a c e i n e v e r y t h i n g . O v e r the WAN, c l i e n t server e s p e c i a l l y makes a l o t o f s e n s e - b u t , a s a lways , the a p p l i c a t i o n must c l e a r l y d r i v e t h e u-se o f t h e t e c h n o l o g y . F o r some a p p l i c a t i o n s i t may e a s i l y t u r n out t h a t c l i e n t server i s the worst p o s s i b l e c h o i c e . T h e key t o making r i g h t d e c i s i o n i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g how - a t a d e t a i l e d l e v e l - t h e a p p l i c a t i o n i n q u e s t i o n r e a l l y works . WAN l i n k bandwidth b e i n g l o w , t r a n s a c t i o n s i z e s h a v e t o be opt i m i s e d .

3.3 Multimedia.

Mult imedia h a s become one o f the h o t t e s t buzzwords around. I t p r o v i d e s new mixes of g r a p h i c s , a n i m a t i o n , a u d i o , a n d s t i l l - a n d f u l l - m o t i o n v i d e o . M u l t i m e d i a a p p l i c a t i o n s h a v e b e e n s l o w t o make t r a n s i t i o n f r o m d e s k t o p systems o n t o l o c a l l y n e t w o r k e d systems. WAN - b a s e d systems l a g e v e n f u r t h e r b e h i n d . Real v a l u e o f mul t imedia s o l u t i o n s w i l l be t o p r o v i d e i n f o r m a t i o n t o u s e r s i n remote s i tes . V i d e o c o n f e r e n c i n g , v i d e o t e l e p h o n y , v i d e o w h i t e b o a r d i n g , t r a i n i n g a n d d i s t a n c e l e a r n i n g , v i d e o i n f o r m a t i o n a c c e s s and v i d e o d i s t r i b u t i o n a r e some

K e y t o e f f e c t i v e m u l t i m e d i a services o v e r a WAN c o n n e c t i o n i s b a n d w i d t h . S p e e d s f r o m 128 Kbps t o mul t i -Mbps a r e r e q u i r e d f o r c o r p o r a t e a p p l i c a t i o n s . S t o r e and Forward a p p l i c a t i o n s l i k e

E-Mail used a s t r a n s p o r t may a l l o w u s e r s t o g e t away w i t h l o w e r t r a n s m i s s i o n s p e e d s . I S D N and b r o a d band I S D N a r e r e q u i r e d t o s u p p o r t n a t i o n a l a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l mul t imedia services.

3 .4 Asynchronous Transfer Mode (Am) . A s y n c h r o n o u s T r a n s f e r Mode ( A T M ) i s a h i g h bandwidth , l o w d e l a y s w i t c h i n g and m u l t i p l e x i n g c o m m u n i c a t i o n t e c h n o l o g y s u p p o r t i n g wide area communications. ATM i s the t e c h n o l o g y o f c h o i c e f o r e v o l v i n g d o m e s t i c and i n t e r n a t i o n a l Broadband I n t e g r a t e d S e r v i c e s D i g i t a l Network ( B - I S D N ) p u b l i c n e t w o r k s . T h e Same t e c h n o l o g y i s now b e i n g a p p l i e d t o t he deve lopment of new g e n e r a t i o n LANs and W A N s . ATM e v e n t u a l l y w i l l be the service

f o r m u l t i m e d i a o f c h o i c e a p p l i c a t i o n s . (2)

ATM c a r r i e s t w o t y p e s o f t r a f f i c : Constant B i t R a t e (CBR) and V a r i a b l e B i t R a t e ( V B R ) . F o r e x a m p l e v i d e o t r a n s m i s s i o n g e n e r a t e s CBR t r a f f i c , while data a p p l i c a t i o n s , such a s r o u t e r t r a f f i c f o r a t r a d i t i o n a l LAN, g e n e r a t e VBR t r a f f i c . I t s u p p o r t s r a t e s o f 1 5 5 and 622 Mbps, and a l s o 45 Mbps. ATM can u s e s w i t c h e d o r p e r m a n e n t v i r t u a l c i r c u i t s .

3.5 Frame Relay.

Frame R e l a y i s a p o i n t t o p o i n t h i g h speed permanent v i r t u a l connec t ion (PVC) service. S p e e d r a n g e s f r o m 56 Kbps t o 1 . 5 4 4 / 2 . 0 4 8 Mbps. I t a l l o w s u s e r s t o g a i n t h e a d v a n t a g e o f h i g h s p e e d c i r c u i t s w i t h o u t h a v i n g t o r u n d e d i c a t e d l i n k s b e t w e e n a l l t h e end p o i n t s o n a p r i v a t e n e t w o r k . Frame R e l a y c a r r i e s minimal p a c k e t overheads , c h e c k i n g a n d r e t r a n s m i s s i o n b e i n g handled by h i g h e r level p r o t o c o l s .

Frame R e l a y i s a v i a b l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n a1 t erna t i ve o f f e r i n g r i g h t

c o m b i n a t i o n o f b a n d w i d t h a t r e a s o n a b l e c o s t . F r a m e R e l a y i s t h e c h o i c e communi c a t i o n t e c h n o l o g y f o r t r a d i t i o n a l a p p l i c a t i o n s r e q u i r i n g LAN - LAN d a t a t r a n s f e r .

of the p o t e n t i a l a p p l i c a t i o n s . Each o f t h e s e p l a c e s v e r y h i g h d e m a n d s o n bandwidth.

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4. W I " G OF A OLOEUL RapN.

An international network is far more complicated to set up than a comparable domestic network. Primary factor is that the telecommunication organizations in most countries - known as PTTs or Post, Telephone and Telegraph - are state owned monopolies. As a result they are often cumbersome bureaucracies using older technologies without the infrastructure to offer the latest o r fastest services. The selection of a transport service is limited by availability, reliabfl i ty and installation time. Installation of some services may take months. Additionally some PTTs do not publish rate schedules.

The first step is to define the applications requirements completely SO that a knowledgeable tradeoff is possible between cost and service with respect to impact on the application. The second step is to define the business requirements carefully, including investigating the available services and comparing potential carriers. The final step is to select .the service and carrier, based on requirements, a vai 1 abi 1 it y and budget constraints. (3)

Following the above steps will ensure making a global network supporting applications at a reasonable cost. Welcome to the new WAN.

The technologies of computers and communication are available to make it possible for a person to work in the global team. Each combination of technologies has it's own niche. In depth analysis of user application and environment will only detemine the best possible combination of technologies to form the Wide Area Network for a particular user group within available budgets.

6. "CSS.

1. Robert W. Harbison, ISDN making it's way into the public eye, WAN connections page 34.

2. Abhinav, An Information Technology Model for futuristic world, para 3.4. Proceedings of IEEE Region 1 0 Conference TENCON 93, Beijing, China, Oct 1993.

3. Katherine Epes Barret, Making connections overseas, WAN connections, page 52.

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