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Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Patterson who wrote (10377)	11/11/1997 5:01:00 PM
From: Cihangir Akyol	Respond to of 77400

Routing, by nature is a more complicated process and therefore has many more bells and whistles that can be tuned. If you want a "simple" routing scheme, the administration is easy. However, if you want more sophisticated control, obviously it needs more administration. Routing configuration can be complex because essentially you can do many more complex things with routing than bridging. Basically, you get what you administer for. The more sophisticated operations you want, the more configuration you need to maintain.

To: Jim Patterson who wrote (10377)	11/11/1997 6:54:00 PM
From: G. Richmond	Respond to of 77400

Jim, <Layer 3 swiching is routing at wirespeed, Say 10/100 MB/S> No, layer 3 switching SWITCHES IP traffic ( the predominant protocol) at wirespeed and forwards other traffic such as SNA, DecNet, Appletalk ( legacy protocols ) to a router. At the router, the traffic is slowed down to less than wire speed due to latency, or the time between when the data arrives, gets processed, and is sent on its way. < If you have a big CSCO Router, say 12-18 months old, That router has to be programed Right ?> we call it configured but O.K. your right <Could you replace that router with a layer 3 switch ?> Yes, provided the layer 3 switch you select supports any legacy protocols you may still be running. If it doesn't, and your reason for considering replacement is increased performance, you can install the layer 3 switch in front of the router to offload the IP traffic from the router, the IP will get switched at wire speed with little or NO latency, and your old dog router will no longer be burdened with IP traffic therefore, performance just increased dramatically for your legacy protocols. < If you can, Do you still need the extensive programing that The conventional router needs ? (I have been lead to believe that Routers need lots of programing)> Too many variables but the answer is not as much. This of course will vary on whose layer 3 switch you choose. <2) If you don't, then is a layer 3 switch simmilar to an inteligent hub albeit a large hub.> No Just to clear up another issue, TRUE layer 3 switching, * IS NOT * routing. There are companies pushing switches with a routing blade installed and calling it layer 3 switching. These solutions fall on their face when you compare the price/performance to a real layer 3 switch. Hope this answers your questions GR