IDG Books - $34.95
ISBN:0764570099
Available November 1998
As networks have spread to all corners of homes and businesses, network costs have become a significant burden for a large number of companies and even individuals. As the amount of traffic on these networks has increased, the cost of networking has climbed dramatically. Even apart from the wiring, hubs, routers, and other hardware, network users face regular fees for their connections to the outside world - from $19.95 a month for a typical dial-up account to $150,000 a month for enormous network pipes capable of connecting companies.
These costs have driven the development of a number of techniques for reducing the number of connections needed and the volume of traffic going over those connections. Some techniques allow multiple machines to share the same connection, while others allow multiple machines to share the traffic over a large connection, avoiding redundant information transfers and reducing the amount of traffic overall. For companies faced with growing user demands on one side and the tariffs of the phone companies and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) on the other, these solutions can reduce bills while simultaneously improving service.
This book shows network administrators, managers, and even telecommuters how to make the most of their existing connections, providing strategies that can reduce the number of lines needed as well as the capacity of those lines. Guiding readers through the tools available for home offices to branch offices to corporate offices, this book will give administrators the information they need to design appropriate architectures and implement complete solutions.
Topics covered include: