Networking - A Catalyst for Change? Copyright CAUSE 1994. This paper was presented at the 1993 CAUSE Annual Conference held in San Diego, California, December 7-10, and is part of the conference proceedings published by CAUSE. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, that the CAUSE copyright notice and the title and authors of the publication and its date appear, and that notice is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association for managing and using information technology in higher education. To copy or disseminate otherwise, or to republish in any form, requires written permission from CAUSE. For further information: CAUSE, 4840 Pearl East Circle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301; 303449-4430; e-mail info@cause.colorado.edu The "Bottom Line" on Networking Gene T. Sherron, D.B.A. Professor of Library & Information Studies Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida ABSTRACT Fear not! The world has not passed you by. Nor has your mind pulled a Rip VanWinkle on you. Networking has not been around forever. Ten years ago, the networking of computers was for techies--another of their black arts. But, as we look around we find that networking is very popular. It is estimated that 75 percent of our PCs are networked. And, the number is going up annually. What made networking explode? Well, the computer and the communciations industries finally got it. As the PC took off in the '80s, ubiquitous networking will mark the '90s. This paper will bring you up-to-date on networking in the '90s. We'll highlight the business and hit on some of the new things. In some respects, you are faced with learning a whole new set of acronyms and "technical" phrases. But, you've got lots of company. It is new for many of us. Yet, the networking train has left the station and you need to jump on that moving train. Time is a wastin! Oops, I forgot to warn them. Experts need not attend! An Introduction New technologies are enabling the interconnection of computing resources via campus-wide backbone networks to create a "meshed" environment. This new environment requires redefining the role of the local area network (LAN) and wide-area network (WAN) technologies. At the same time, network connections are changing from hierarchical to peer-to-peer as traditional nonintelligent, terminal-to-host, wired networks that require human intervention give way to intelligent networks that enable programmed and automated switching, management and reconfiguration. These new intelligent networks use integrated access servers and router-based internetworks, and eventually will use higher-speed connection-oriented network facilities, such as frame relay, cell relay, and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM). This multiprotocol, open backbone will serve as the migration vehicle to opens systems and the client/server architecture. "But!" you say. I can't deal with all this CHANGE! Why don't you just tell me what I need to know? You know sort of like a "one- minute manager's approach." Maybe you could just give me the bottom line and skip all the technical stuff. OK? OK! Let's try to give you just what a manager needs to know. Skip the background, ignore those step-by-step explanations, and figure that if you want more, you'll find it in a book. Right! This paper will consist of the highlights of what is going on in networking and your bottom line in each area. How simple can it get! Well, let's see. First, I'd like to know, how did we get into this mess? Colleges and universities have had computers for decades. Big suckers! Why they filled rooms. But, now its a chip on the desktop. And, people began to want to connect them and talk to colleagues. How dare them? So, we started building them some networks. Now, many managers are concerned with managing a heterogeneous environment of user-built, non-campus-wide, "roll-your-own" networks which are sprawling out of control because networking products evolved on separate paths and were based on different goals. But as we wrap up 1993, there is hope. Vendors are presenting us with more and more interoperable products that allow these separate entities to be pulled together to communicate. Yes, users are demanding global connectivity and interconnectivity of department and workgroups. So, let us take a few minutes out and work our way through the mechanics of networking and see what is new. Indeed, we want to find out what is your bottom line in networking! What do you mean, "Copper is fast enough?" LANs are typically cabled with copper and it comes in many varieties. But, one observation at the outset. There is no one best cable for LANs. As suggested earlier, the medium for your campus may be a matter of historical consequence or thoughtfully chosen, based on present and long-term requirements for data, text, graphics, voice, image, and video. The most widely used transmission media is unshielded twisted pair (UTP) of copper wire. This familiar type of cabling is found in most phone systems and is already installed in most campus buildings. UTP offers several advantages as a LAN cabling medium. It is the least expensive. The technology is mature. Installation is quick. And, little advanced technical training is required. The installed cost of a workstation with UTP is about $150 compared to $250 to $400 for other copper media.1 Your Bottom Line for Copper Twisted copper pairs will continue to be the basic method for delivering services in the office during the 1990s. With our campus buildings full of old phone copper phone cables, UTP represents a valuable resource for networking that is cheap, light weight, flexible, and easy to install. More importantly, it will support most of the popular networking protocols and configurations. However, the expanded use of 10BaseT, that's 10 Mbps speed over twisted pairs of copper, is causing a resurgence in the use of copper wires as a medium, at the expense of coax (Ethernet) and fiber (FDDI). The industry standard, Category 5 UTP is known as "datagrade" or "supertwist" cable is rated to 100 MHz and intended to support 16 Mbps token ring and FDDI-over-copper initiatives.2 Your "SuperTwist Copper" Bottom Line The IEEE standards now exist for 4, 10, 16 Mbps. The emerging TPDDI(twisted-pair distributed data interface) and CDDI (copper distributed data interface) standards reinforce the belief that unshielded twisted pair (UTP) will continue to be an appropriate choice for horizontal wiring for years to come. But, What about fiber? Isn't it the ultimate transmission technology? There is no question that optical fiber cabling is a runaway best seller for campuses where "keeping up with the Joneses" is in vogue. Fiber provides the unlimited bandwidth, low attenuation, and low security risk. We're talking about fiber systems of over a thousand simultaneous, two-way conversations and pushing data at speeds of over 100M bps. The tremendous capacity of fiber has caused many campuses to jump on the fiber bandwagon. Even though many will even admit that they felt it was wise to put in fiber whenever the campus was dug up for wiring. But, many campuses are asking the question of whether fiber is necessary or does it fall into the "nice to have" category. Hey, is wireless for me? The purpose of wireless networks is to extend wire, not replace it. However, if you are in a situation where you can't use copper wire, or if you have a connection problem that wire can't solve, perhaps a wireless solution is for you. The major benefits of wireless come from reliability and low- cost reconfigurations. Reliability results from fewer cable faults. And, reconfigurations are inexpensive because typical users can relocate networked computers on their own. Wireless LAN adapters cost between $200 and $800 each. Yet, implementation costs -- no cabling system -- could cut installation costs by 75 percent and end up saving between $100 and $150 per network connection.3 Your Wireless Bottom Line Remember that the reason wireless networking products were developed was to provide users with flexibility. The wireless-LAN market is driven by the limitations inherent in copper cabling. Wireless LANs can lessen the costs associated with typical LANs and they can give mobility to hand-held computers. As standards mature and applications continue to grow, wireless technology will become a common way to connect computers. Copper is still faster and more reliable. What do you mean, we need a plan for topology? More frequently, people like the phrase wiring topologies, so that will be our title for this section. The basic topologies are: bus, ring, and star. However, in practice, we find a number of wiring schemes that are mixtures of these basic topologies. Your Bottom Line on Topologies Topologies look good on paper. Butin the real world, each campus will use the strengths of several topologies to match the capabilities of the entire system and its communications needs. Let's talk SPEED! Thanks to the inventive nature of electrical engineers, we now have several new technologies looking for an application. These technologies are methods to transmit a faster and faster speeds. First, there was ISDN. Then, the telephone companies began to tease us with SONET and we wondered about FDDI for the campus. Today, there is much talk about SMDS and ATM. Let's take a few moments and explain some of these technologies. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) Some would say that Integrated Services Digital Network or ISDN, is just a much maligned "technology looking for an application" since 1980. Put simply, ISDN is a modest set of broad technical recommendations for a common user interface to digital networks. Its purpose is to one of breaking out 64 Kbps channels for all types of transmissions from voice to slow-scan television. Frame Relay A frame is a group of bits sent serially. As a self-contained unit of "data" with its own addressing and error checking, it is used in all bit-oriented protocols. A frame is similar to a block. In video, one frame is usually 525 electron scan lines or one TV picture.4 Frame relay technology lets users access greater amounts of bandwidth on an as-needed basis to help support the growing number of applications generating bursts of traffic such as LAN interconnection. The relay refers to how frames are relayed across a series of predetermined switches. As a switching interface, frame relay operates in packet mode (individually addressed frames, statistically multiplexed on a port or trunk,) with less processing than X.25 packet switching. Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) It's a little early to get overly excited about FDDI. But, it won't hurt to know enough to ask the hard questions. FDDI is a standard for large backbone LANs that is configured as a counter- rotating ring operating at 100 Mbps. It is intended to support up to 1,000 connections and support a total fiber length of 200 kilometers.5 FDDI was designed to provide high-speed interconnection between low-speed departmental LANs, such as Ethernet and Token Ring. Your FDDI Bottom Line Today, FDDI network interface cards (NICs) are selling for several thousand dollars per workstation. Chip development is proceeding at a pace that we can expect NICs to be below $l,000 by late 1993. Therefore, for high-performance users, FDDI implemented over copper directly to the desktop will be in vogue until switched-LAN hubs become available.6 Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Despite its relative infancy, ATM--the emerging high-speed switching technique that uses 53-byte cells to transmit large bursts of data, voice, video, and images over networks--already has spurred heated debate. Some dub it ;a holy grail for high- speed networking; others believe true implementation is a decade away. Possible reasons for rejecting it include: Your ATM Bottom Line In the next few years, we can expect to see ATM implemented on backbone links between switching nodes. So, imagine these fast cells zipping between nodes in local telco systems or even nodes of PBXs. Switched Multimegabit Digital Service (SMDS) SMDS is a 1.544 to 155 Mbps public data service which complies with the IEEE standard for MANs (802.6). It is envisioned that the network flow could typically be from a customer's system through a carrier's SMDS and then connect to Ethernet, token ring, or make FDDI connections. Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) SONET is the standard the evolved out of the carrier industry to provide for the interconnection of high-speed networks via single- mode optical fiber. This "transport vehicle" starts with a building block of 51+ Mbps and will be capable of delivering data at gigabit (that billions, folks) speeds or Gbps. As our future backbone technology, SONET will seamlessly interconnect with a variety of current and emerging carrier services, including Broadband ISDN and Switched Multi-megabit Data Service (SMDS) and high-speed LANs by transporting FDDI.7 By the way, MCI already has thousands of miles of DS-3 of SONET transport in place. Backbones, Collapsed and otherwise! As our "local" networks grew to be "wides," distributed backbone network architectures grew to provide connectivity from the departments to the "host" or mainframe computer, giving LAN users access to mainframe files, data and often applications. Most importantly, the central networking resource gave users access to national networks. These campus traditional backbone architectures were configured in either a bus topology, such as Ethernet, or ring topologies, such as Token Ring. More recently, the collapsed backbone architecture takes a bus or ring topology and collapses it into a single, centralized "device." In a collapsed approach, the device is referred to a "backplane," a fast router or even a switching hub, and serves as the backbone offering each LAN a high-speed, say 100 Mbps FDDI connection. This collapsed approach eliminates the need for individual routers attached to each LAN. They are replaced by a single multiport centralized device. Your Bottom Line for Backbones If you are considering major rewiring of the campus or major buildings or established a backbone, it would be wise to consider this high-speed collapsed backbone approach. The switching and routing technology is moving us in this direction. Yes, LANs have operating systems. It is normal to describe client/server network operating systems as departmental LANs or systems. When the network application goes up the next level in the organization, it is often referred to as the enterprise system. These enterprise systems normally operate on host machines called mainframes. Yes, we are now calling mainframes "servers." Isn't that enough to make your old big iron salesmen roll over in their graves! The chasm between the mainframes and the PCs is being filled by client/server technology. So, as mainframe popularity declines, middleware for servers becomes OUR operating system. Thus, it is timely to mention some of the LAN operating systems. Novell's Unix Operating System Novell has acquired the Unix Systems Laboratories (USL) from AT&T. And, at this time, it is not clear what Novell will do with Unix. Hopefully, it will accelerate its development. Officially, the legal descendant for AT&T Bell Laboratories--originator of the initial Unix--is Novell's Unix System Laboratories (USL) Univel is identified as Unix SVR4.2, as in System V, Release 4.2. To add to the users' confusion, computer manufacturers, in an effort to give an "open" appearance have marketed their own version of Unix, for example, Apple's A/UX, Digital's Ultrix, Hewlett-Packard's HP/UX, IBM's AIX, Sun Microsystems X/Open, and even Next Computer's incorporates elements of Unix in NextStep.8 Microsoft's Windows NT After much pre-release hype, Windows NT finally made it to market in the latter part of 1993. So, how's it going? First, it takes a horse of a machine to run NT. As a volume, power-user platform, the minimums include a 486 50 MHz system with 12 Mbytes of RAM and 300 Mbytes of hard disk. Fortunately, NT comes along at a time when this type of horsepower is not an unusual item on many desktops. Then, NT can be used as the application server and file/print server in a departmental LAN situation. Building on the success of Windows 3.1, it can be that departmental platform for relational databases, Lotus Notes, SNA gateways and e-mail. Your Server Operating System Bottom Line Unix is predicted to grow by over 20 percent through the next five years. IBM's MVS operating system will continue to shrink in the market place to a point that Unix will pass it by 1994.9 Microsoft's Windows NT will probably enjoy success in the low-end application server and LAN NOS market next year. Novell's NetWare will lead as the server middleware in its battle against Windows NT. Novell with work withIBM, DEC, and HP to unify the Unix movement forward to openness. So, even with Unix as our best hope for "open" systems, its several versions cause us to realize that there is no single solution out there today. However, we can expect it to take several years for NT and Univel or NetWare 5.? to mature and face up to the demands of enterprise-level NOS. In the meanwhile, users will watch the Microsoft-Novell war go on and each of us choose the real products available today, not "futures." Oh! You do need to decide on a LAN architecture. Once you get past the server operating system, attention need to be focused on the type of LAN architecture used in the network. One of the oldest is ARCnet which was actually developed to connect minicomputers. It uses a token passing bus or star architecture. Originally implemented at speeds of 2.5 Mbps over coax, it now adds twisted pairs and fiber to its media schemes. Its speeds have been boosted to 20 Mbps for coax and ARCnetplus offers even a higher speed version. If you are an all Macintosh workplace, it's a no brainer. Apple builds its Macs with internal network interface cards and the software to support what it calls AppleTalk. Using either Apple-provided twisted pairs or coax, this unique "standard" supports up to 32 Macs or printers at a relatively slow speed of 230 Kbps. Designed with a CSMA/CD type of access protocol, its workstations can be arranged in a bus or star configuration. Ethernet, is one of the three oldest architectures--token bus, token ring, and Ethernet. The original implementation was with coax or thick Ethernet. Today, in addition to shielded "thick" coax, which supports devices up to 500 meters, Thinnet or Cheapernet coax is about half the size of regular coax. This architecture runs at 10 Mbps using collision to sense the presence of other packet of data. IBM's major LAN product is the token-ring. It generally conforms with IEEE 802.5 using baseband transmission on either shielded or unshielded twisted pairs. Competition has caused the transmission speed to go from a 4 Mbps offering to 16 Mbps. Your LAN Architecture Bottom Line One need not look too far to find evidence of the effect that unshielded twisted pairs of copper has had on the LAN marketplace. Recent market reports show that over 60 percent of all new Ethernet sales are using UTP cable. Imagine, over 6 million Ethernet connections are projected for 1993! The 10BaseT standard has worked its way ahead of token ring with price driving the buying decision. 10BaseT can be purchased for approximately $275 per port compared to $500 to $700 per port for Token Ring.10 Ethernet networks have always outsold token rings, with Ethernet adapters holding 60 percent share versus 20 percent for token ring adapters in 1992. As hubs get "smarter," look for Ethernet to continue its dominance over token ring with at least a two time pricing differential. The current cost of including an Ethernet chipset on the motherboard is only $25. So, cutthroat pricing wars between PC vendors might make an Ethernet chipset a standard "feature."11 Now, we need a LAN operating system. Over the past decade or so of growing complexity in networking, users have quietly hoped for network control that doesn't appear to "control." But, rest assured, the more usage and users, the more control and management is needed. A LAN or network operating system or NOS provides a certain transparent "manager" of the system's resources. Novell's NetWare We might as well start with the leader in the industry. Novell offers at least seven network operating systems (NOSs), as well as custom server hardware on which those NOSs run. Five of these run on IBM/IBM-compatible systems, one is for Macintoshes, and one for DEC VAX systems. One significant feature of Novell is its system fault tolerance (SFT). It provides an environment in which if certain hardware failures occur, the network does not necessarily go down. DEC (Pathworks) For years, DEC has offered its own NOS, but competition has been stiff. Consequently, Digital has quietly introduced a product called Pathworks that walks the fine line between a NOS and DECnet. Using client and server software, Pathworks accomplishes this balancing act on the client side with PCs, Macs, and ULTRIX users getting basic mail application, network transport software, terminal emulation, and VMS application support. Server software provides users with print, file and mail services and support for TCP/IP, DECnet, and OSI. And, the server can be VMS, UNIX, or OS/2 based. The Digital strategy with Pathworks is to provide a corporate NOS to integrate all popular LAN technology and support all standards.12 Banyan's Vines Banyan 's Vines is recognized for its support for large networks and network interconnections. One of the very few to run on Unix- based servers, Banyan has a distinct advantage in the market place because many WANs contain nodes that run Unix operating systems. Few can match Banyan's multi-user, Unix-based machines support. The latest version, Vines 5.5, features enhanced global directory and wide area connectivity. Here is another example of a LAN OS moving up to the next layer to wide area networking (WAN). In this case, server-to-server option is available to support LAN-to- LAN communications over high-speed T1 and fractional T1 connections. Another available option is for ISDN. IBM's LAN Server & OS/2 Operating System The latest versions of IBM's operating system or OS/2 not only provides for data communications but multi-tasking and presentation services. IBM versions support only IBM token rings, not IEEE standards. An extended OS/2 version has enhanced capabilities such as the LAN Server and a communications manager. 3COM (3+, 3+OPEN) Founded by the inventor of Ethernet, 3Com has been a leader in LANs from its very beginning. 3Com's latest offering, LAN Manager, runs under Microsoft's OS/2. 3Com's 3+Open is the OS/2- LAN Manager product sold directly by 3Com. Microsoft also provides its own version of LAN Manager. 3+Open goes beyond just supporting Ethernet and handles token ring architecture as well. Like Novell, LAN Manager provides fault tolerance via mirrored disk drives. And, like Banyan Vines, 3Com has announced a name directory service. Your LAN Operating System Bottom Line Novell has steadily increased it percent share of user connections over the past 5 years to the point in 1991 were Novell owns 67 percent of the installed base. In fact, it has more connections/nodes than all competitors combined.13 You mean I have to worry about Peer-to-Peer LANs too? Peer-to-peer networking enables users to share files and printers without a file server. Products to serve this market have been provided by about dozen vendors for years. For a "who's who" in the peer-to-peer market the following are THE primary products: Apple's System 7; Artisoft's LANtastic; Microsoft's Windows Workgroups; Moses' MosesAll!; Novell's NetWare Lite; Sitka's TOPS; Tiara's 10Net; and Webcorp's Web. Alright! Let's connect up to the whole world. The Internet is a collection of heterogeneous host computers communicating via the TCP/IP suite of protocols, often referred to as the IP or Internet Protocol network. The rapid growth of the Internet defies precise statistics, but a recent count indicates: -- 2 million individual users -- 1,800 domestic and 600 foreign networks -- 25 percent are business users14 After a decade of success, the National Research and Education Network (NREN) is designed to be the next-generation Internet. Well, have you any parting words? The Information Superhighway! What, when, where, how, and why? The typical reporters questions are on the lips of many of us on the campus today. There appears to be a mega-opportunity from the convergence of computers, communications, and entertainment. Will this "digital convergence" create markets worth trillions of dollars? There is no way to predict where or how far technology's evolution will take us, but this is a given: it will be extensive, expensive, and inevitable.15 1Gary A. Howard & Frank X. Mara, "Design a Copper Network for PDS and LANs Using UTP," Cabling Business, October 1992, p. 8. 2Electronic Industries Association/Telecommunications Industry Association 568/569 Commercial Building Telecommunications Wiring Standard of 1991. 3Jim Geier, "Critical Access for Mobile Users," LAN Times, July, 26, 1993, pp. 77-85. 4Newton, loc. cit., p. 182. 5Jerry FitzGerald, Business Data communications, 3rd ed (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1990), p. 347. 6F. McClimans, "Is FDDI Still the Promised LAN?" Local Area Comunications Research Note, The Gartner Group, Inc., October 12, 1992, pp. 1-2. 7Nathan J. Muller & Robert P. Davidson, "Building Private SONET Networks: Design and Management," datapro (Delran, NJ: McGraw- Hill, April 1991), pp. 101-102. 8David Fiedler, "Unix Operating Environments," UNIX Networking: A Supplement to Communications Week, September 1993, pp. 8-12. 9Ibid. (Latham) 10Gary A. Howard & Frank X. Mara, "Design a Copper Network for PDS and LANs Using UTP," Cabling Business, October 1992, p.10. 11David Passmore, "Ethernet vs. Token Ring Revisited," GartnerGroup Continuous Services, April 26, 1993, p. 1. 12Kimberly Patch, "Digital's New Path for Pathworks," Datamation, June 1, 1992, pp. 73-76. 13Baldwin, loc. cit., p. 19. 14"Planning and Purchasing Internetwork Services," GartnerGroup Conference Presentation, October 1992, p. 4. 15"What Presidents Should Know...About the Integration of Information Technologies on Campus," HEIR Alliance Executive Strategies Report #3, October 1993, p. 4.