Summary

In the recent past several important events have highlighted just how fast LANs are developing: standardization of the 802.X series, chip-set for all major MACs, deep involvement of DEC and IBM in LANs, emergence of the ISDN concept, and the wide acceptance of personal computers by professional users. Also, the OSI Reference Model has been able to integrate the connectionless LANs, and is now widely supported by all manufacturers. Exactly which LAN and PBX will be used in years to come, is the basic consideration underlying the contributions to this volume. And although a wide scope of problems is addressed, two focal subjects emerge: the performance evaluation and the architecture oriented problems, with particular emphasis on the interconnections. The support given to the Symposium by an outstanding group of companies ensures the relevance of the contributions for industry, the academic world, and the users.