Methods to determine the cost-effectiveness of local area networks

Local area networks are a cost-effective scheme to provide communication between equipment such as computers, terminals and printers. The cost-effectiveness of a local area network is determined by the performance and cost of the network. In this report, necessary performance criteria and cost factors that should be considered for a network evaluation will be established and defined. Methods will be developed, using systems engineering techniques, to determine the performance and cost of an Ethernet network at both the component and network levels. Finally, an example Ethernet configuration will be examined to demonstrate the application of the methods developed in the report.