A collapsed backbone is a type of backbone network

Backbone network

A backbone network or network backbone is a part of computer network infrastructure that interconnects various pieces of network, providing a path for the exchange of information between different LANs or subnetworks. A backbone can tie together diverse networks in the same building, in different...

 architecture.

The traditional backbone network goes over the globe to provide interconnectivity

Interconnectivity

Interconnectivity is a concept that is used in numerous fields such as cybernetics, biology, ecology, network theory, and non-linear dynamics. The concept can be summarized as that all parts of a system interact with and rely on one another simply by the fact that they occupy the same system, and...

 to the remote hubs. In most cases, the backbones are the links while the switching or routing

Routing

Routing is the process of selecting paths in a network along which to send network traffic. Routing is performed for many kinds of networks, including the telephone network , electronic data networks , and transportation networks...

 functions are done by the equipments at each hub. It is a distributed architecture.

In the case of a collapsed or inverted backbone, each hub will provide a link back to a central location to be connected to a backbone-in-a-box. That box can be a switch or a router. The topology and architecture of a collapsed backbone is a star or a rooted tree.

The main advantages of the collapsed backbone approach are

1. ease of management since the backbone is in a single location and in a single box, and
2. since the backbone is essentially the back plane or internal switching matrix of the box, proprietary, high performance technology can be used.

However, the draw back of the collapsed backbone is that if the box housing the backbone is down or there are reachability

Reachability

In graph theory, reachability is the notion of being able to get from one vertex in a directed graph to some other vertex. Note that reachability in undirected graphs is trivial — it is sufficient to find the connected components in the graph, which can be done in linear time.- Definition :For a...

 problem to the central location, the entire network will crash. These problems can be minimized by having redundant backbone boxes as well as having secondary/backup backbone locations.

See also

• Backbone network
  Backbone network
  A backbone network or network backbone is a part of computer network infrastructure that interconnects various pieces of network, providing a path for the exchange of information between different LANs or subnetworks. A backbone can tie together diverse networks in the same building, in different...
  
  
• Backhaul
  Backhaul (telecommunications)
  In a hierarchical telecommunications network the backhaul portion of the network comprises the intermediate links between the core network, or backbone, of the network and the small subnetworks at the "edge" of the entire hierarchical network...
  
  
• Internet backbone
  Internet backbone
  The Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers in the Internet...
  
  
• Parallel backbone
  Parallel backbone
  There are a few different types of backbones that are used for an enterprise-wide network. When organizations are looking for a very strong and trustworthy backbone they should chose a parallel backbone. This backbone is a variation of a collapsed backbone in that it uses a central node...
  
  
• Distributed backbone
  Distributed backbone
  A distributed backbone is a backbone network that consists of a number of connectivity devices connected to a series of central connectivity devices, such as hubs, switches, or routers, in a hierarchy...
  
  
• Serial backbone
  Serial backbone
  A serial backbone is the simplest kind of backbone network. Serial backbones consist of two or more internet working devices connected to each other by a single cable in a daisy-chain fashion. A daisy chain is a group of connectivity devices linked together in a serial fashion. Hubs are often...