Advances in technology are producing faster and more intelligent desktop computers and workstations. The combination of more powerful workstations and network intensive applications has created a need for greater network capacity, or bandwidth. The requirements have exceeded the 10 Mbps available on shared Ethernet/802.3 LANs.

Today's networks are experiencing an increase in the transmission of many forms of media:

• Large graphics files
• Images
• Full-motion video
• Multimedia applications

There is also an increase in the number of users on a network. All these factors place an even greater strain on the 10-Mbps of available bandwidth. As more people utilize a network to share larger files, access file servers, and connect to the Internet, network congestion occurs. This can result in slower response times, longer file transfers, and network users becoming less productive. To relieve network congestion, more bandwidth is needed or the available bandwidth must be used more efficiently.

Interactive Media Activity Drag and Drop: Bandwidth Requirements When the student has completed this activity, the student will be able to identify the bandwidth requirements for different multimedia applications on a network.