Fred, Article...Intel gets serious about networking - First products are for small networks, but - Intel may also target the enterprise..
March 10, 1998
InfoWorld via NewsEdge Corporation : Intel last month began laying the groundwork for what could be an all-out assault on networking by taking steps into new technologies and touting its microprocessor expertise as a potentially devastating weapon.
Although the products introduced at a recent networking rollout were designed for small and medium-size sites and workgroups, presentations at the event and later comments by executives indicated Intel may seek to take on the lucrative enterprise market dominated by Cisco Systems, Bay Networks, 3Com, and Cabletron.
Leveraging the rising processor speeds and declining costs inherent in Moore's Law will allow Intel to make faster, less expensive network gear, executives said.
Like start-ups such as Packet Engines that have built gigabit-speed routing switches using multiple processors, Intel could scale up its Layer 3 switch technology to serve its current users when their network demands grow larger, according to Reinier Tuinzing, director of strategic marketing for Intel's networking division.
"For our first generation, we don't need a 70 million-packet-per-second switching engine, but all you have to do is scale it up," Tuinzing said. "Because the switching is in silicon -- and we know how to do silicon -- I think we have a pretty good chance of having an impact in that space."
Likewise, the company's first dedicated Gigabit Ethernet switch, an eight- port stand-alone box demonstrated at the event, may be dwarfed by future offerings that could serve as backbones of Intel-based enterprise networks.
In a deal to give Cisco's Gigabit Ethernet switches a companion server adapter, the router giant gave Intel access to technology it acquired with its purchase of Granite Systems in 1996.
But Mark Christensen, general manager of Intel's networking unit, said that deal eventually will allow Intel to use the Granite technology anywhere it chooses -- even in large backbone switches that would compete against Cisco's switches.
Observers said Intel could face an uphill battle in the enterprise core. For example, it would have to build a direct sales and support infrastructure from scratch, they said.
"Now that you have the migration to routing switch backbones, that opens the door to a lot of vendors that weren't able to compete against Cisco," said Esmeralda Silva, an analyst at International Data Corp., in Framingham, Mass. "But the vendors that are able to compete are the ones that users perceive to be strategic. They think of the top four."
Competitors 3Com and Bay said it would take time for Intel to match their expertise in network-specific processors. Enterprise network managers are hesitant to turn to a new vendor for backbone products, even one as prominent as Intel.
"That would be a tough market for them to crack here, because we're fairly entrenched in Cisco products," said Jeff Godfrey, a systems engineer at Roche Bioscience, in Palo Alto, Calif., which currently uses Intel network interface cards.
Intel Corp., in Santa Clara, Calif., is at intel.com.
Intel boosts workgroup line
The company recently introduced its first Layer 3 switches and Gigabit Ethernet switch interfaces, as well as low-cost branch office products.
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