Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cwjcc!gatech!bbn!spdcc!eli
From: eli@spdcc.COM (Steve Elias)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: broadband high speed networking between buildings
Message-ID: <4616@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM>
Date: 19 Sep 89 11:24:27 GMT
Reply-To: eli@ursa-major.spdcc.COM (Steve Elias)
Lines: 41

In article <19661@mimsy.UUCP> chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes:
!i wrote:
!!i'm not sure if 4 out of 5 networking cats would agree with
!
!I think they would---certainly so if they had experience with both
!broadband and fiber:
!
!	a) broadband is slow.

	wrong.  10 Mbits/sec is not "slow", by today's standards.

!You can get 10 MB/s by using three broadband channels (TV channel
!bandwidth is ~4.5 MB/s), as in DEC's product(s?).  You can buy
!80 MB/s off the shelf from Proteon.  (18 TV channels anyone? :-) )

	all of Chipcom's broadband products run at 10 Mbits/sec,
	though forward and reverse channels are required.
	other broadband vendors also sell full speed products.

	it is rare to see a network which pushes the limits of
	a 10 Mbits/sec ethernet, you know!

!	b) broadband requires maintenance.

	yes.  and a large up-front fixed cost.  

!I am not up on the current costs for new installations of each.  It
!does seem obvious (which does not make it necessarily true) that it
!should cost less to use existing broadband facilities than to run new
!fiber optic lines, at least initially (maintenance costs add up fast).
!But fiber is much nicer, and should be cheaper in the long run.

	surely, the market is moving towards FIBER FIBER FIBER!
	but we've yet to see standardized Ethernet/Fiber products.
	even the FDDI spec is incomplete...


-- 
 ... Steve Elias (eli@spdcc.com);6178906844;6179325598; {}
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