Networking Standards Delay Won't Affect Plans to Ship Products
Santa Clara, California, Feb. 5 (Bloomberg)-- Cisco Systems
Inc., 3Com Corp. and Bay Networks Inc. said a delay in setting a
standard for a high-speed switching technology won't affect their
plans to ship new products or create problems in customers'
computer networks.
The announcements by the three largest computer networking
companies came after an industry board late Tuesday failed to
resolve technical issues concerning a proposed standard for so-
called gigabit Ethernet technology. The Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers was expected to certify the standard in
March, though now it won't do so until June at the earliest.
3Com, the No. 2 networking company, and No. 3 Bay said they
would guarantee customers that products bought before a standard
is set will be able to communicate with standard products or they
will replace the old switches for free. No. 1 Cisco said its
customers may need to purchase a small connector device to make
its pre-standard products compatible with the final standard.
Those guarantees may reassure corporate buyers who might
otherwise put off purchases until a final standard is adopted,
one analyst said.
''The vendors will be able to get around (the standards
delay), so people who were going to buy will buy anyway,'' said
Craig Johnson, an analyst with the market research firm
Dataquest. Still, more cautious computer network administrators
may delay purchases until after a standard is set, Johnson said.
Bay and 3Com, along with competitors such as No. 1 Cisco
and Cabletron Systems Inc., plan to begin shipping gigabit
Ethernet switches in the first half of this year. Cabletron would
not comment on the standards delay.
The market for the switches, which transfer data within
computer networks 10 times faster than existing equipment, is
expected to approach $2 billion by 2000, according to Dataquest.
The standards delay arose because of concerns about
inconsistencies in data transmitted at gigabit speeds, said
Marilyn Callaghan, spokeswoman for the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance,
an industry trade group that is following the standards process.
If not resolved, the inconsistencies could limit the length of
fiber-optic cable used in gigabit Ethernet networks, she said.
o~~~ O |
