Spider IT Services specializes in custom network design and installation. Firms hire Spider to
do an overall analysis of their network needs, including a detailed cost-benefit study. Recently,
a problem arose. One of Spider’s clients complained that the relatively new network was too
slow and lacked sufficient capacity. Reviewing the case, Spider’s top management realized that
the rapidly growing client had simply outgrown the network much earlier than anticipated.
Could this problem have been avoided? Note that IBM, in the article shown in Figure 10-19 on
page 467, commented that performance can “degrade exponentially” in certain kinds of network
situations. Consider the IBM article and other material in this chapter, and offer your views.