Hi George Coyne, there seems to be a bug in the private message system applicable to the free SI trial deal; it will not allow me to PM you to respond to your PM...it does not allow me to respond to anybody via private message...Note for new members: You may send up to 3 messages per day until we receive your SI membership fee of $125.
and this is my 1st MSG today...oh well, what can you expect for free...I will try again on Monday, George...I'm doing OT @work today and don't feel like going out to the parking structure to my car to get my wallet/credit card...thinking about good ol ASND though...and those Cadbury Easter eggs...the ones with the candy coating around that silky milk chocolate...mmmmmmm...I do hope ASND knocks my socks off tomorrow...it's about time...but I will not hold my breath on this stock again...whatever happens...happens...and that's just the way it is! ROCK & ROLL ASND!!!!
Here's a news article:
April 13, 1998, TechWeb News
Network Switches -- Broadband architecture accommodates ATM, IP mix -- NetCore scheme targets frame and cell services
By Loring Wirbel
Wilmington, Mass. - A company with roots in the design teams of LANCity Corp. and Sigma Network Systems Inc. has unveiled a carrier-class broadband switch that can handle frame and cell traffic for a mix of native asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and Internet Protocol (IP) services. NetCore Systems Inc. aims its Everest architecture at carriers who need to transport various services but want to avoid higher-layer specialized routing protocols.
Founders Kwabena Akufo and Steven Dunstan already have proved their ability to implement high-layer route and switch functions in silicon, through their work with the Am29000-based Sigma switching architecture ultimately acquired by Cabletron Systems Inc. Since late 1996, Akufo and Dunstan's design group at NetCore has been exploring ways to aggregate ATM virtual channels to efficiently carry a mix of telephony and IP traffic.
NetCore expects to compete most directly against traditional broadband switch architectures from the likes of Cisco Systems Inc. and Ascend Communications Inc. John Shaw, vice president of marketing, said NetCore assumed from the start that Everest would need to interconnect natively with routers and broadband switches in the field, and that systems would have to be ready for public-networking duties from inception.
"The underlying approach we took with Everest was assuming that every node be capable of intelligent switching, without using MPOA or MPLS," said Shaw, referring to Multi-Protocol Over ATM and Multi-Protocol Layer Switching, respectively. "Every interface to the switch can do straight ATM switching, straight IP routing or IP mapping to ATM in hardware."
Virtual-channel flexibility
Use of ATM virtual channels as dedicated paths is a flexible approach, the company said. Traffic can be explicitly assigned to virtual channels or aggregated over multiple virtual channels based on traffic patterns, using a proprietary technique NetCore calls "VC Merging." The architecture requires no ATM segmentation/reassembly functions. All switching-fabric and IP-routing hardware was designed internally and implemented in FPGAs.
The core building block for scalable systems is the Everest Integrated Switch 10 (EIS-10). With a 10-Gbit/second backbone capacity, it is able to route IP packets at up to 2.5 Gbits/s. By combining systems in rack-mounted arrangements or in clusters, nodes can scale to 640 Gbits/s and, eventually, to 1.2 terabits/s.
One logical switching node can be geographically distributed across a metropolitan or larger region. Large clustered systems are treated as one routing entity, avoiding the logical-routing "explosion" when traditional switches are combined to create supernodes.
Because quality-of-service parameters can be set at the virtual-channel level, packet prioritization can take place without explicit use of protocols like MPLS or Resource Reservation Protocol. Then, when these standards have been defined, the software can be added to the Everest switch without adding a dedicated signaling stack. Virtual-private-network services can also be mapped to virtual channels, a prospect that has won accolades from service-market analysts like Strategic Networks Consulting Inc. and Cimi Corp.
By not offering guaranteed service categories and guaranteed bandwidth, business carriers and Internet service providers lost more than $900 million last year, said Tom Nolle, principal analyst at CIMI. He estimated losses will top $1.5 billion this year.
Everest uses a core ATM switch and a separate management processor board.
The company will demonstrate the system at next month's NetWorld+Interop show in Las Vegas and will ship beta units this summer. Typical configured system prices start at $15,000 per port for OC-3, $40,000 per port for OC-12 and $90,000 per port for OC-48. |
