Designing Wide Area Networks and Internetworks: A Practical Guide

Preface

In the past few years, internetworking has exploded on the scene, thrusting itself into the awareness of the general public. A great many major corporations are finding it necessary to construct private internetworks, or intranets, to facilitate interactions internal to the organization, and many corporations are struggling to develop ways to securely use the public Internet to exchange business information with external customers and suppliers. Telephone companies and Internet service providers (ISPs) are moving quickly to provide cheap and reliable Internet access anywhere in the world.

Unfortunately, the design process for networks of this type is anything but straightforward. Any network that attempts to span a significant area today ...