karn@THUMPER.BELLCORE.COM (Phil R. Karn) (07/06/88)
I am writing a paper on our practical experiences in managing Bellcore's internal computer network. It now consists of several dozen Ethernets interconnected by DEC Lan Bridges, Vitalink Translans, point-to-point T1 interlocation links multiplexed on dedicated DS-3 fiber, and a few IP gateways. It now serves roughly 1,000 hosts, almost all of which speak TCP/IP and related protocols. I believe this to be one of the largest networks of its type, and I would like to compare it to other corporate computer networks. Can anyone give me a feel for what other large companies have in the way of internal computer networks? I'd interested primarily in dedicated, high speed (>= 56 kbps) networks with 500 hosts or more. Slow speed "data PBXes" (e.g., Datakit and similar toys) designed primarily for terminal switching don't count. Thanks, Phil Karn
bill@UHCCUX.UHCC.HAWAII.EDU (William J. King) (07/07/88)
WHY ARE WE GETTING TWO COPIES OF TCP/IP NEWTOWK MAIL??
wunder@SDE.HP.COM (Walter Underwood) (07/07/88)
It now serves roughly 1,000 hosts, almost all of which speak TCP/IP and related protocols. I believe this to be one of the largest networks of its type, and I would like to compare it to other corporate computer networks. Sorry, not even close. The HP Internet has about 7500 hosts worldwide (US, Europe, and Japan). We have about 120 gateways, over 200 subnets, and nearly all links are 56Kbit or above. Our link to Japan is 19.2Kbits, but we plan to upgrade it. We are testing a couple of T1 links, and may be installing some cross-country T1 next year, depending on funding. In the US, most of our links are channels on T1s that were bought for our voice network. In Europe, we use 64Kbit X.25 service. We also have two satellite connections. DEC and Xerox have corporate networks with over 10,000 hosts, but they are not TCP/IP (DECNET and XNS, natch). My guess is that the HP Internet is the largest private TCP/IP network, where "private" and "TCP/IP" are necessary qualifiers in order to say "largest". The HP Internet was my first project after coming to HP. It was all modems and UUCP three years ago. Walter Underwood HP Software Development Environments Palo Alto, CA