WRK.CECOM@CECOM-1.ARPA (Bill.King@SRI-NIC.ARPA, Directorate of Information Management) (08/13/87)
I have what perhaps is a rather dumb question for this forum, but would sincerely like some opinions. We are about to relocate our computer room and at the same time, relocate and upgrade our PSN. Given the choice (which we do have) of locating the PSN adjacent to the telephone switching center (and all incoming trunks) or adjacent to the host computers (eventually a gateway) connected to it, which is preferable and why? Your assistance appreciated. Bill King Ft. Monmouth, NJ KING@CECOM-1.ARPA
ron@TOPAZ.RUTGERS.EDU (Ron Natalie) (08/19/87)
It's best to have the node closer to the computer that it serves. The lines are cheaper to run (just plain ol' telephone wire) to the node than it is to extend the cables between the hosts and the node. Since the trunks are already on modems, rerouting the wire is not a big effort. Extending the cables to the hosts would require running larger cables for short distances or the purchase of modems (for X.25 and HDH) or ECU's and Modems (for LH/DH) that would not ordinarily be necessary. The idea of a distributed packet switch network is to put the switches near the end points not to centrally locate them. -Ron