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Gigabit rises to top
Switches, software meet user demands
By Scott Berinato and Stacy Lavilla, PC Week Online, in Atlanta
Vendors large and small heeded customers' calls for
Gigabit Ethernet last week.
Stalwart networking companies Digital Equipment
Corp. and Cabletron Systems Inc. joined companies
such as Packet Engines Inc. in the product barrage at
NetWorld+Interop here.
Digital unveiled its seven-slot GigaSwitch/Ethernet
switch, which supports up to 24 Gigabit Ethernet ports
or 120 Fast Ethernet connections. A 45G-bps
backplane will forward 33 million packets per second,
officials at the Maynard, Mass., company said.
Complementing the switch, due in February, will be a
$4,950 two-port version of a Gigabit Ethernet software
module, a 20-port 10/100 module for $6,950 and a
10-port Fast Ethernet module for $9,950. A four-port
module will ship in April.
The GigaSwitch frame, which will start at $9,950, will
provide aggregation, allowing one switch to support a
full-duplex 4G-bps backbone connection.
The legitimization of Gigabit Ethernet is due primarily
to its familiarity as a LAN topology, said Nick Esser,
manager of product development for Canoga Perkins
Corp., a fiber-optics company in Chatsworth, Calif.
"ATM [asynchronous transfer mode] has a
quality-of-service claim over [Gigabit Ethernet], but
Ethernet is as simple as it gets," Esser said. "It's at my
desktops, but ATM isn't. Gigabit Ethernet is very
exciting for the campus backbone."
Digital also will roll out this week a Gigabit Ethernet
uplink module for its existing MultiSwitch 900, as well
as an EtherWorks 1000 network interface card for
Gigabit Ethernet server connections.
Packet Engines extended its Gigabit Ethernet portfolio
with the launch of its PE-4884 Gigabit Ethernet routing
switch. The next-generation switch features a 52G-bps
backplane and comes with 14 slots that accommodate
up to 25 Gigabit Ethernet ports or 240 Fast Ethernet
ports. The PE-4884 Gigabit Routing Switch starts at
$2,995 per Gigabit Ethernet port.
For its part, Cabletron will fill out its Gigabit Ethernet
strategy by reselling Packet Engines' $1,295 Gigabit
Network Interface Card, as well as Packet Engines'
six-port and 12-port full-duplex Gigabit Repeater, for
$9,995 and $15,995, respectively, officials of the
Rochester, N.H., company said.
Silicon Graphics Inc., meanwhile, announced its
BDSPro 2.0 software, which enables file serving and
transfer at gigabit speed for multiterabyte data backup.
The software, due in the first quarter, will cost $5,000,
said officials in Mountain View, Calif. |
