The principles of interconnecting existing high speed LANs and MANs are discussed. The interconnections are done by means of a geostationary space ring network (SRN), comprising 12 Advanced Technology Communications Satellites, equipped with multibeam antennas and providing intersatellite connectivity and onboard demodulation and information processing. The space ring network performs the tasks of the backbone network and actually is the highest layer of a hierarchic multilayer high speed computer network. The lowest layers of this network are existing LANs and MANs. The network interconnections are based upon so-called Z-BRIDGEs. These bridges provide internetwork retransmission of frames, the routing function being performed by special hardware. The Z-BRIDGEs provide secure transparent connections between any computers belonging to different networks, either public switched or private, at any site world-wide.
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