1. Monitor/Control Station locations require high reliability communications links to the Master Control Station.
2. Redundant communications paths are needed to ensure full time availability in the event of link failure.
3. The amount of data to be moved between Monitor/Control Stations and the Master Control Station are assumed to be small enough that a low- to medium-speed data link (somewhere between 56kb/sec and T1) will suffice.
4. Security of this network is imperative; data confidentiality, data integrity, and authentication are absolute musts; the network must be resistant to denial of service attacks.