10. Conclusion

Today, local area networks are at the heart of information systems in companies, industries and institutions. In addition to providing access to IT resources, LANs offer the possibility of using the same transmission infrastructure for telephone communications, data exchange and video. This development has only been made possible by the increase in transmission speeds, which now exceed 10 Gbit/s for Ethernet networks and 54 Mbit/s for wireless LANs. However, this development has been accompanied by a number of issues that standardization bodies are trying to address. These issues mainly involve reinforcing the security of exchanges and ensuring quality of service for applications requiring guaranteed performance.

The technologies used in local area networks have enjoyed widespread success, due in part to their ease of configuration and low cost. This success has...