Optical fibers in local area networks

< , . I 0 I63-6804/84/0800-0022 E io I .OO 8 1984 IEEE I N THE following paragraphs, we wil l examine the application of optical transmission technology to the local interconnection structures that we call local area networks (LAN’s). These networks are a singular technological development with an application scope which may eventually overlap that of older conventional network structures, such as the local subscriber loop in telephone .systems. By.the term LAN we understand a data communications system that allows a number of independent, nonhomogeneous devices to communicate with each other [l]. LAN’s are usually distinguished from other types of data networks in that communication is confined to a modestly sized geographic area such as a single office building or a complex of buildings and laboratories such as a university campus. LAN application environments include the commercial, the industrial, and the institutional. Perhaps the major thrust of LAN’s will be in office applications. LAN’s must, therefore, support services such as file transfer, graphics applications, word processing, electronic mail, distributed data bases, interconnection to other LAN’s, digital telephony, and, eventually, some kind of video service. Moreover, LAN’s .must support a wide variety of data devices: computers of all vintages (micro, mini, and maxi), video terminals, mass torage devices, printers, plotters, facsimile printers, and gateways to other networks.

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