Specifications

Introduction April 2014
10
Flexible Design
The distribution layer provides connectivity to network-based services, to the WAN, and to the Internet edge,
either with directly connected or connected through a core layer. Network-based services can include and are
not limited to Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) and wireless LAN controllers. Depending on the size of
the campus network, these services and the inter-connection to the WAN and Internet edge may reside on a
distribution layer switch that also aggregates the LAN access layer connectivity. This is also referred to as a
collapsed core design because the distribution serves as the Layer 3 aggregation layer for all devices.
Figure 4 - Two tier design: Distribution layer functioning as a collapsed Core
2086
LAN
Access
Collapsed
LAN Core
Server
Room
Client
Access
Switches
Distribution
Switch
Switch
Stack
Wireless
LAN Controller
Servers
Firewall
WAN
WAN
Routers
Internet
Firewall