Therefore it is quite feasible for a user within a corporate environment to use ISDN Basic Rate or analog PSTN modem technologies to connect to the corporate network. Telecommuting users (with an office at home) are more likely to prefer to use ISDN than analog modems, while mobile computer users are almost certainly going to be analog modem users as that gives them much greater flexibility.
3.1 LAN (Ethernet derivatives/TokenRing)
Ethernet comes in 3 varieties, based on speed (10Mbit/s, 100Mbit/s and 1000Mbit/s), and depending on the interconnecting technologies and hubs, this bandwidth can either be shared or dedicated to a single desktop.
TokenRing technology is less popular, and has speeds up to 16Mbit/s. Shared Ethernet (10Mbps) is around $20 per port and Shared Fast Ethernet is around $100 per port. One port is required for each user.
Switched 10 Mbps (Ethernet) to the desktop costs $100 per port, and 100 Mbps (Fast Ethernet) switching costs $389 per port for the switching hub.
Gigabit ethernet devices are not generally available yet, as the standard has not been ratified yet. Some devices are available, and they cost significantly more per port than Fast Ethernet devices.
In addition to the port cost, there is the network interface card necessary for each type of LAN, ranging in price from $50 to $500 for the faster networks
Multimedia delivery on LANs is quite common, and a dedicated bandwidth of 10Mbit/s to the desktop is sufficient for today's applications.
3.2 ATM 25Mbit/s
The ATM switch and network cards are considerably more expensive than the equivalent ethernet components, but the price is dropping rapidly. ATM to the desktop is seen as the next wave of corporate desktop networking, especially with the prospect of combining telephony, data, and even video conferencing facilities in the one network connection.