Lesson 2: Switched WAN Services

● Point-to-point services are often used to connect two or three remote locations using
long-distance facilities. There are advantages to using point-to-point services; however,
at some point, it becomes more advantageous to use a switched facility.
● The number of point-to-point lines in a full mesh network increases sharply with the
number of nodes. Switched services provide more flexibility in connecting WAN nodes.
Dial-up or dedicated connections are still necessary to reach the switched network;
however, after the switched network is accessed, you have any-to-any connectivity.
● In addition, private lines are engineered to meet peak traffic rates. In other words, a
network designer must buy enough point-to-point bandwidth to carry network’s
highest expected level of traffic. During non-peak times, however, unused transmission
capacity goes to waste. Switched services can provide variable capacity, at rates that
vary according to the bandwidth actually used.
Types of Switched Services
● Packet-switched services fall into
two broad categories: connection-
oriented networks and
connectionless networks.
● The Packet-Switched Network
Options Table provides a
summary of the most common
switched services offered in a
networks today.
X.25
● X.25 was the first switched network service. An X.25 network, whether
public or private, is typically built largely upon the leased-line facilities of
the public telephone network. It uses a Network Layer address
(telephone number) so that switches can route packet traffic over
multiple paths.
● X.25 only provides data rates up to a maximum of 56 Kbps. It is still used
to switch packet traffic over a wide area. However, it is quickly being
replaced by faster technologies, such as frame relay and ISDN, which
were built upon the foundation of X.25.
X.25
● X.25 is connection-oriented, and offers two types of service:
● Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs) – This is the X.25 equivalent of a
leased line, statically defined and always available as long as network
is up. Unlike leased lines, however, more than one virtual circuit can
share a physical link.

● Virtual connections – This is the X.25 equivalent of a dial-up

connection. A network established a connection on a virtual circuit,
transfer packets until the application is finished, and then release the
connection.
Frame Relay
● Frame relay is a connection-oriented packet-switched network service
that works at the Data Link Layer. A frame relay network carries traffic
over virtual circuits.
● The term “frame” is used because frame relay builds data frames and can
asynchronously multiplex these frames from multiple virtual circuits
(endpoints) into a single high-speed data stream. The term “relay” is used
because each frame relay device forwards the frames as they move
through the network without examining the frame’s payload or
demultiplexing the data stream.
ATM
● ATM is an international standard for a high-speed, connection-
oriented, cell-switching technology. ATM operates at both the
Physical and Data Link Layers of the OSI model to transmit
voice, video, and data across LANs, MANs, and WANs.
● ATM transmits data in units called “cells”. A cell is essentially

the same as a packet, because it consists of data plus a

protocol header. However, a cell is always the same size (53
bytes for ATM), while the size of a packet can vary.
ATM
● The ATM Network Diagram
illustrates an ATM “cloud”
network. Similar to a frame relay
network, an ATM network
consists of a number of switches
that provide virtual circuits
between multiple inputs.
● ATM switches forward data very
quickly, and the fiber optic links
that usually connect ATM
switches operate at 155Mbps.
The Internet
● The Internet is not a single WAN technology, like frame relay or ATM.
Instead, it is a hybrid combination that uses most of the wide area
transmission systems. The Internet is a global network of computer
networks.
● Although the idea is a simple, its implications are enormous. One of the
main features of the Internet is its ability to allow dissimilar computer
systems, and even networks of dissimilar systems, to communicate with
each other by means of two common protocols: TCP and IP.
● These two protocols functions as a common language that PCs,
mainframes, and minicomputers can all use to talk each other over the
Internet.
Internet Structure
● Internet services, like telephone calls, travel over the telephone network
infrastructure. The Internet backbone is the relatively small number of
high-volume, high-speed trunks owned by the major telephone
interexchange carriers (IXCs). In addition, most countries have their own
backbones, each connected to the other.
● The Internet is arranged in an informal hierarchy. The biggest
corporations, and the largest ISPs, connect their network directly to this
main transmission backbone. The big ISPs, in turn, provide access to
smaller service providers and corporations, which in turn provide access
to individual users and small business.
 Internet, Intranet, and Extranet
● New Internet terminology emerges almost daily. One source of confusion is the use of the terms “Internet”
(capitalized), “internet” (not capitalized), “intranet,” and “extranet”.
● The Internet (capitalized) is generally considered the global TCP/IP network. In other words, the Internet
connects the world.
● The term “internet” (not capitalized) refers to any interconnection of two or more networks, when the
connection uses TCP/IP technology and protocols. This “internet” does not mean that a network is
connected to the global Internet.
● An Intranet is a “private Internet.” It is a private, internal network that uses Internet applications, tools and
protocols. However, it is designed for private use by company personnel. For example, many company
intranets store commonly used information as Web pages, and their employees use Web browser to
retrieve and view the documents.
● An Extranet includes both Internet and intranet capabilities. It is a private intranet shared between closely
aligned organizations. While it is external to each organization, it is not available to the general public.
For example, a manufacturing company might work closely with a parts supplier for a specific product.
Information about parts inventories could be stored in an extranet accessible to both companies.
 VPN (Virtual Private Network)
● Data packets move across the Internet by being forwarded from one networks
router to another until they reach their destinations.
● Because Internet traffic can be intercepted by any router that forwards it, basic
Internet transmission is inherently insecure. To ensure privacy, companies that
use the Internet as a WAN backbone often set up a VPN.
● A VPN is a connection, set up over a shared network, that behaves like a
dedicated link. VPNs use end-to-end network encryption to establish a secure
connection from machine to machine.
● Many encrypted data streams travel over the same public network, such as the
Internet, each in a separate secure “envelope” formed by different encryption/key
combination.