Token Ring technology was
developed by IBM to support mission-critical SNA traffic
in Enterprise networks. It employs source-route bridging
to enable multiple redundant backbone paths through
local area networks to provide the high availability
and the load balancing necessary for high performance
mission-critical SNA mainframe applications. The introduction
of Token Ring provided a very significant enhancement
to the performance and reliability of Enterprise networks.
For campus environments the adoption
of Asyncronous Transfer Mode (ATM) backbones offered
dramatic increases in bandwidth, while segmentation
and the introduction of switched Token Ring &
High Speed Token Ring (HSTR) technologies have provided
performance improvements in the LAN infrastucture.
Although Token Ring offers more effieciency
& flexiblity in the design of resilient networks
than Ethernet, over time the techology has become
less cost effective. The lower cost per port and increaingly
higher raw data rate ot Ethernet make it better placed
to support emerging multimedia applications, and the
integration of voice & data in the networks of
tomorrow.
While many have made significant investment
in Token Ring, which they wish to further protect,
IT managers must consider the adoption of Ethernet
technolgies in planning the future development of
their networks.
There are a number of approaches that
can support and improve existing Token Ring infrastructures,
but also accommodate the deployment & intergration
of Ethernet. Initially Ethernet may be adopted in
new areas of the network as part of a phased migration
plan.
At Syscomm we offer a range of
solutions not only to support the growth of Token
Ring networks, but also to position them for future
Ethernet deployments, by the introduction of migration
technology. We can supply and implement new &
second user products from IBM, Cisco & Madge to
ensure that your Token ring investment is proteced
and an Ethernet migration strategy is in place to
meet the needs of future business applications.
