Texas Agricultural Extension Service operates a fairly large enterprise-wide network that stretches across hell's half acre, otherwise known as Texas. We have around 3,000 users in 249 counties and 12 district offices who expect to get their e-mail and files across our Wide Area Network.
Some users actually expect the network to work most of the time.
We use Ethernet networking with Novell servers at some 35 locations, about 15 have routers that are connected via a mixture of 56Kb circuits, fractional T1, frame-relay and radio links. We are not currently using barbed wire fences for our network, no matter what you may have heard. I am privileged to be part of the team that set up and maintains the network. Scarcely a day goes by that we do not have one or more WAN link outages, usually of short duration. We sometimes have our hands full just keeping all the pieces connected.