Visualization provides a useful tool for analyzing large, complex data sets.
In the design of backbone computer networks rough cut design decisions can gain from a visual analysis of the generated solution with respect to design parameters. An important step in network design is to decide on the tradeoff between average delay incurred in routing the messages over the network and the total cost of network design. In this research we show how two dimensional and three dimensional surface and glyph representations can be used for understanding the cost-delay tradeoffs involved in the network design problem. The major contribution of this research is that it provides a flexible, visual front-end to the abstract design process and allows the users to decide on the efficient frontier where they would prefer to operate. Most problems related to the design of computer networks are combinatorially explosive and involve decisions about a large number of parameters such as average message length, average message delay, utilization of links, cost of delay, capacities of links, routing protocols, etc.