FDDI network architectures, performance and futures

Standards compliant FDDI interfaces have been available for between one and two years. As measured by the installed base, the authors believe that the technology is being accepted and deployed, with the number of nodes per network growing rapidly. In this paper, based on their experiences as a vendor of FDDI equipment, they first briefly recount certain features of FDDI. Next, they examine the reality of FDDI based upon their experiences with over 100 installations, including the fiber types used, ring sizes (diameters and number of nodes), use of concentrators, bridging and routing uses, costs, and interoperability in multi-vendor situations. Next, they examine measured performance gathered from several installations with supercomputer, mainframe, workstation, and bridge/router nodes, and examine the factors affecting performance. They examine FDDI futures, including FDDI-II and follow-on FDDI options.<>