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Technology Stocks : MRV Communications (MRVC) opinions? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sector Investor who wrote (8263)	4/21/1998 1:04:00 AM
From: Eric L.	Respond to of 42804

From PC WEEK: Cisco readies 8500 Gigabit features due 4 to 6 weeks later By Scott Berinato, PC Week Online 04.20.98 Cisco Systems Inc. plans to announce next week its first routing switch, the Catalyst 8500. But it won't include Gigabit Ethernet capabilities initially. The 8500 will be offered in two models--the 8510 and 8540--each of which is designed for corporations looking to incorporate routing switch technology on the network backbone, sources said. The 8510 and 8540 switches, which will support 5G-bps and 20G-bps capacities, respectively, include full support for Cisco's IOS software, NetWare IPX and AppleTalk protocols, as well as Class Based Queuing and advanced security capabilities, they said. The 8510, which Cisco will demonstrate at NetWorld+Interop in Las Vegas next month, will enter beta testing in May and ship in June. The 8540 will ship in September, sources said. But the Gigabit Ethernet capabilities on the 8510 switch will be delayed for at least four to six weeks after it ships, according to sources. The delay appears to be the result of problems on the level of application-specific integrated circuits, sources said. The features included in the initial release make the 8500 more like a traditional switch rather than one that requires users to adapt their networks to the new technology, one analyst said. "What it would do is put a switch in the context of a real network," said Tom Nolle, an analyst at CIMI Corp., in Voorhees, N.J. While pricing for the switches was not available, Cisco could charge a 30 percent to 35 percent premium over similar switches from competitors, for an estimated starting price of $20,000, sources said. Bay Networks Inc.'s Accelar 1150 switch, for example, complete with four Gigabit Ethernet ports and expansion capabilities for 10/100M-bps ports, is $14,995. Cisco officials in San Jose, Calif., would not comment on unannounced products.

To: Sector Investor who wrote (8263)	4/21/1998 1:09:00 AM
From: Eric L.	Respond to of 42804

From Computer Shopper: Any thoughts on how it effects MRVC? I'm thinking at worst no effect, at best anything that delays CSOC & others is great giving MRVC more time by itself & to gain share.. Gigabit Ethernet Task Force Delays Standard DMD Interferes With Fiber Transmissions by David Aubrey Originally published in the May 1998 issue In a move that caught both vendors and users by surprise, the IEEE's Gigabit Ethernet task force voted to delay ratification of the Gigabit Ethernet specification, 802.3z, until June 1998 at the earliest. Surprisingly, the problem stemmed from difficulty with data transmissions over multi-mode fiber-optic cable, a medium most early adopters of Gigabit Ethernet have taken for granted. The problem, dubbed Differential Mode Delay (DMD), revolves around too much transmission "jitter." Multimode fiber-optic cable is preferred because it uses more than one beam of light per fiber, resulting in increased speeds. But the use of two beams is what causes the jitter. When the beams are transmitted next to each other, one beam reaches the destination before the other, forcing it to wait until the slower beam catches up. Bob Grow, vice chairman of the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance, says the task force originally thought it would have to cut Gigabit Ethernet's maximum transmission distance from 260 meters on 62.5-micron fiber-optic cable to less than half, at only 100 meters. But the task force has announced that a new solution known as the "conditioned launch" is in the works. Grow says, "In this approach, the laser sending the data will produce a light pattern that is much more similar to an LED than what is currently used for Gigabit Ethernet transmissions. Since fiber-optic cabling was designed for LED transmissions, this should make data transfers stable enough to do away with any distance limitation." Gigabit Ethernet product vendors have taken the news with mixed feelings. Some companies like Bay Networks and Compaq Computer Corp. announced that no Gigabit Ethernet product would ship without the ratified 802.3z spec. In contrast, Cisco Systems introduced Gigabit Ethernet uplinks for its Catalyst 5000 switch series and its 7500 series router family. It also incorporated gigabit route-switching capabilities into its NetFlow architecture. Despite news of the delay, 3Com Corp., which has been shipping Gigabit Ethernet switches and NICs since last November, announced that it would likewise continue to ship new products. Clearly, most vendors and the alliance itself feel that it is safe for customers to continue with their Gigabit Ethernet installations.