Computer Science – 2.1 Networks including the internet | e-Consult
2.1 Networks including the internet (1 questions)
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For a company with 50 workstations and significant data traffic, a star topology with a switch is the most suitable option.
- Bandwidth: A switch provides dedicated bandwidth to each workstation, ensuring good performance even with high traffic. This is superior to a bus topology where bandwidth is shared.
- Reliability: A failure of one workstation does not affect the rest of the network. The switch itself can be a single point of failure, but this can be mitigated with redundant switches.
- Cost: While more expensive than a bus topology, a star topology with a switch offers a good balance of performance and cost. The cost of the switch is relatively low compared to the cabling required for a mesh topology.
Trade-offs: The main trade-off is the reliance on the switch. However, modern switches are highly reliable. A fully connected mesh topology would offer the highest reliability, but the cost would be prohibitive. A partially connected mesh could be considered, but would require careful planning to ensure adequate redundancy.