🚀 go-pugleaf

I posted this before, but possibly it got lost somewhere as I've
received no responses.  I've also expanded the newsgroup coverage.


I need recommendations for a WAN.  The WAN will have a star topology,
as there will be one central site, and many (currently 3 envisioned
but more to be added) remote sites.  The remote sites may have a
small (3 user?) LAN.  The central site will probably have a larger
LAN, type unknown, quite possibly Novell.  

The amount of data involved is enormous.  On the order of 500MB
every 20 minutes or so.  I believe it will not be a steady stream
of data, but a 500MB chunk every so often.  This may or may not
already take compression into account.  Currently, 10 minutes or
so to get the data from the remote sites to the central sites is
acceptable, however this may change in the future.  Eventually
real-time may be required.  The remote sites will most likely
have the data coming from a HP 9000 HP/UX system.

Currently there is no equipment, no cable, no building (as far as 
I know there is no building).  My main question is, what hardware
is needed at each end to support this WAN?  In addition, what
facility and service would be best?  My back of the envelope
calculations say that T1 would take 45 minutes, T3 would be 
90 seconds.  Is there a dial-up T3 option?  Are there other
facilities that would work for this?  What sort of bandwidth
can one get using a VSAT and spread spectrum (if that is a bad
question, how fast can 500MB be transmitted)?

One or two of the sites may be geographically close (a few miles?), 
but most will eventually be quite far.  Do I need to worry about the
local phone company, or do I only have to deal with a long
distance carrier?  What other questions should I have asked?  
What information did I leave out?  Thanks in advance!!

-  Andy
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