As the number of subnets and interconnections grow, the concept of a hub or backbone becomes useful in managing the interconnection of NJE traffic. Figure 1 shows three subnets “A”, “B”, and “C” connected through gateway nodes A5, B3, and C3 which comprise the backbone of the network. Using matching CONNECT initialization statements to connect nodes A5 and C3 directly further increases the availability of the backbone. For example, if the lines in Figure 1 that connect node A7 to node B1 are down but CONNECT statements have been specified on all nodes, the data collects at gateway node A5, rather than waiting at A-6. When the path becomes active, the data reaches its destination more quickly.

Figure 1. Backbone Network Configuration