The physical layer of a prototype Gbit/s multi-service network

Networks such as FDDI that transfer information at rates up to 100 Mbit/s are just emerging. These will find application initially as backbones for 802.3 networks and as direct connections for high performance workstations. However, in many applications, e.g. remote simulation on supercomputers or high quality digital video transmission, these bandwidths are already insufficient. With the increasing performance of workstations and a greater interest in sharing information (often bit mapped graphics) and resources across the network demand for increased bandwidth will become more pervasive. Moreover, there is increasing interest in integrated networks to carry data and realtime streams such as video and voice, for instance to support multimedia workstations. Thus future networks capable of supporting these applications will require high performance, large bandwidth systems. At Hewlett-Packard Research Laboratories in Bristol, the construction of a Gbit/s network is underway and the authors envisage that it will serve as a test bed for experimentation with high speed multiservice networks. The authors briefly describe the architecture of the network and the design of the network's physical layer.<
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