Ohhh, those glory telecom boom days... Star: central controller/server/uplink card has point-to-point links to each of the line card, but line cards can not talk to each other directly. Low number of links, but the server has to handle each packet in the system. Ring: each card is only connected to its two immediate neighbors. A packet from card 1 to card 4 travels through cards 2 and 3 in a "bucket-brigade" fashion. Low number of links (and they are the shortest of all topologies), best scalability of all three topologies, but "bucket-brigade" adds transmission delays. Mesh: every card in the system can talk to every card via a dedicated point-to-point link. Most versatile, no unnecessary load on the server/controller card, but a gazillion of point-to-point links, very complex and expensive backplane (thus, it does not scale well). Sergey Ermolin Dust Inc. 2560 9th Street, #218. Berkeley, CA 94710 (510) 225-2137 (510) 540-9671 - fax -----Original Message----- From: Dennis Fritz [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 9:43 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Star, Ring, and Mesh Backplanes Does anyone have a simple explanation, or website link, that will cover the difference between these architectures? The names keep popping up in high speed backpanel discussions, and I need to be a bit more knowledgeable. Thanks Denny Fritz MacDermid --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 -----------------------------------------------------