AT-4016F Installation Manual
3
ATI’s Solution
In the past, a legacy Ethernet-to-Ethernet switch partially resolved
fundamental bandwidth congestion problems by assigning each node to a
unique segment.
That was yesterday. Unfortunately, legacy Ethernet-to-Ethernet
switching is not a total solution to bandwidth congestion when it
originates from the backbone or if you (and others at the same time)
access a server or data base which is outside your local network.
For example, bandwidth congestion — and subsequent degradation of
network throughput — will occur if just a single node in the network is
either the source, or destination, of excessive traffic.
ATI’s solution is straightforward.
First. If your LAN is out of bandwidth then you can use your AT-4016F to
convert your legacy, shared-media traffic to a dedicated 10 Mbps for each
port.
Next. Use ATM functionality to connect traffic to a server or backbone (at
up to 155 Mbps in this case). Once you have done this, you will have
eliminated the focused load problem associated with other switching
technologies that force the server to run at the same rate as the client
devices.
The advantage of this approach is that you only have to “upgrade” those
devices that actually need the increased bandwidth (like the server).
Figure 2 shows the front panel of an AT-4016F/SC. It is presented here as
a review of the positioning of the relevant ports. A full discussion of the
functions, LEDs and other features of this switch will be discussed later.
Figure 2: AT-4016F/SC Front
Panel
