Wide Area Network Ecology

In an ideal world the need to provide data communications between facilities separated by a large ocean would be filled simply. One would estimate the bandwidth requirement, place an order with a global telecommunications company, then just hook up routers on each end and start using the link. Our experience was considerably more painful, primarily due to three factors: 1) The behavior of some of our applications, 2) problems with various WAN carrier networks, and 3) increasing Internet traffic. ‘‘Network Ecology’’ describes the management of these factors and others that affect network performance.