Systems Network Architecture: An overview

By relieving the user of network management concerns, Systems Network Architecture provides a flexible and extendible structure enabling multiple applications to share a single network. The SNA concepts encourage the distribution of information processing from computers to control units by establishing an environment that is independent of the physical configuration. In geographically dispersed networks, application programs and data bases can be moved from the host to another node closer to the terminal operator. Programmable control units can be optimized to allow persons with little or no data-processing training to utilize computers. The communication system formats and protocols enhance the exchange of information among a diverse group of operators, application programs, and devices. Application programs and devices designed to sNA specifications solve specific problems rather than being involved in the entire communications process. Network users can concentrate their resources on specific applications without understanding the increasingly complex information-processing systems that assist them in their work. CITED