[comp.sys.dec] DEC Local Area Protocols

kwe@bu-cs.BU.EDU (kwe@bu-it.bu.edu (Kent W. England)) (10/10/88)

	Until recently, my knowledge of DEC protocols has encompassed
a fair, but limited, understanding of DECnet and of LAT.
	I understand that there are more Local Area DEC protocols and
I wonder if some member of this newsgroup would take a moment to
enlighten me about the functionality of the Local Area Disk (LAD), the
VAXcluster-on-Enet protocols and any others there may be?
	The reason this has become important to me is that I have
clients who want to buy (and use) PCs with DEC hardware and software.
They are now informing me that new releases of the software work
better with local area protocols than with DECnet.  I am a routing
bigot and I want an explanation of why DEC is moving in this direction.

	How do the local area protocols fit in with DECnet?  Is DECnet
now relegated to wide area (slow speed) internetworking?  Does DEC
expect their customers to use only LANbridges to interconnect their
Ethernets?  What has DEC actually said and what can be inferred about
their direction wrt routing and bridging?

	Please e-mail to me.  Thanks.

	Kent England, Boston University
	kwe@bu-it.bu.edu