Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 14:56:00 -0800 From: Vadim Antonov <avg@pluris.com> To: paul@vix.com, salo@msc.edu Subject: Re: Exchanges that matter... Cc: nanog@merit.edu [slashing and reordering your response slightly] ATM as a LAN is probably ok, if it can compete with Gb Ethernet price/performance-wise.

Precisely my point, (which you managed to delete in your response). Price/performance seems like a pretty good analysis technique, at least for technologies that pass some basic hurdles, like "working."

FDDI is not a WAN technology. Losing 20% of bandwidth of a 10 ft piece of fiber is one thing. Losing 20% of bandwidth of a $3M/yr circuit is quite different.

I don't understand. Are you trying to say that price/performance analysis is appropriate for LAN technologies, but not for WAN technologies? Now, I could understand if you said, "I analyzed ATM WAN services for one configuration once and concluded that other technologies provided better cost/performance in all possible configurations," or even "I don't think ATM products and standards are mature enough for my application." However, you seem to be saying that wide-area technologies should be assessed based on total cost and overhead, rather than on cost/performance... -tjs