Method and architecture for a wide area network

摘要

An architecture for a wide area network offering many of the advantages of the Internet but is easily modified to accommodate changes in network growth or demand is disclosed. The architecture includes a redundant high speed dual switched Ethernet backbone which is designated as Area 0 in the network topology. Area Border Routers (ABRs) are linked to the backbone and provide a gateway to a Core Network Service which consists of a plurality of network routers and switches. The ABRs are also linked to more regional routers which are geographically located in critical areas of interest across the network. The architecture accommodates devices and applications using the Internet Protocol, Domain Name Server addresses and other industry standard addressing and naming formats and includes a security architecture for validating authorized users.