LAN Requirements

There are certain features that every LAN should have and users would do well to keep note of these when they decide to implement their own network. These features essentially invoice hardware and software components. Broadly, these are :
(i) Compatibility - A local area network operating system must provide a layer of compatibility at the software level so that software can be easily written and widely distributed. A LAN operating system must be flexible, which means that it must support a large variety of hardware. Novell Net Ware is a network operating system that can provide these features, and has today, become an industry standard.
(ii) Internetworking - Bridging of different LANs together is one of the most important requirements of any LAN. Users should be able to access resources from all workstations on the bridge network in a transparent way; no special commands should be required to cross the bridge. A network operating system must be hardware independent, providing the same user interface irrespective of the hardware.