SAP Hardware Solutions: Servers, Storage, and Networks for mySAP.com

Bandwidth Requirements of Network Segments

In the past, client/server networks were dimensioned, to follow the 80/20 rule. That is, 80% of the total network traffic was expect to be exchanged within the local segment, 20% was expected to cross bridges to systems on other segments. The proliferation of SAP R/3, consolidation of systems in the data center, and the Internet make this rule obsolete. Today, the pattern of information flow through most local area networks can be viewed as a tree structure:

• The end-user connections at the offices and factory floor form the leaves—each sending and receiving a relatively small part of the overall information juice at a time.

• The workgroup connections of a building floor form the branches—concentrating ...