Xylan box has eyes
for gigabit
By Robin Schreier Hohman
Network World, 09/21/98
Calabasas, Calif.
The Gigabit Ethernet market is hot, and
Xylan wants in on the action. The
company is pinning its hopes on an
unannounced multiservice box called the
Omni Switch/Router - a chassis-based
device that sources say not only handles
Gigabit Ethernet, but also ATM, token
ring, FDDI and slower flavors of
Ethernet.
Despite its all-in-one nature, the Omni
Switch/Router has its heart in the gigabit
world. In fact, the device is aggressively
priced at less than $2,000 per port for
Gigabit Ethernet, a move that's sure to
force other vendors to react. The device
is aimed squarely at the enterprise, either
in the data center or wiring closet,
depending on configuration, say those
familiar with the company's plans.
The Omni product, to be announced next
Monday, is in beta testing now and will
ship at the end of this month. Xylan
officials declined to comment on the
switch.
Xylan has other announcements in the
works, including:
The development of new Application
Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) for its
OmniStack line, which are expected to
lower the price of the boxes and to ship
by the first quarter of 1999.
The release of more details about
OmniCore, a 160G bit/sec monster
switch that will support either 48 Gigabit
Ethernet ports or 24 OC-48 ATM ports.
The OmniCore isn't expected to ship for
about a year.
Includes Layer 3 switching
The Omni Switch/Router has 32 Gigabit
Ethernet ports and 256 Fast Ethernet
ports. As its name suggests, the box
sports Layer 3 switching, which combines
routing and switching in one box. It has a
backplane of 22G bit/sec and a routing
speed of 12 million packet/sec.
In contrast, the current OmniSwitch
product has a total of 96 Fast Ethernet
ports but no Gigabit Ethernet ports, and
has a 256,000 packet/sec Layer 3 switch
engine.
Users looking for more basic Ethernet will
find that the 10/100M bit/sec ports will
list for under $220 per port.
The higher density of the 10/100M bit/sec
ports on the Omni Switch/Router will also
enable Xylan to compete more effectively
against Cisco's Catalyst 5000 and 5500
in the wiring closet, experts say.
The Omni Switch/Router will support up
to two FDDI uplinks, something Xylan
supplies only with its nearly obsolete
PizzaSwitch, the precursor to the current
OmniStack stackable line.
Xylan doesn't actively market the
PizzaSwitch, although the company will
sell the product if a customer specifically
requests it. The FDDI modules will allow
Xylan to market this switch as a smooth
migration from FDDI to Gigabit Ethernet.
Xylan will also produce 32-port
token-ring modules, for a total of 256
ports.
If the Omni Switch/Router looks familiar,
it is because it has the same form factor as
the existing OmniSwitch, and will ship in
three, five and nine-slot configurations.
The Omni Switch/Router modules will
come in the following configurations:
four-port Gigabit Ethernet modules and
32-port 10/100M bit/sec autosensing
modules. As in the OmniSwitch, one slot
has to be occupied by a management
module.
Any-to-any switching
The Omni designation refers to the ability
to do any-to-any switching, one of
Xylan's specialties. The OmniSwitch can
do cell and frame switching, allowing
ATM and Ethernet modules to switch in
the same chassis.
However, the Omni Switch/Router works
differently and only does frame switching.
In fact, the ATM modules will only
provide uplinks into an ATM switch.
The new switch uses the same Xylan
Operating System as all of Xylan's
switches, so it also has the same features,
such as policy-based quality of service.
At least one Xylan user says he'll
welcome the new switch. "I think routers
as independent boxes are clearly at the
end of their life cycle," says Tom Collins,
telecommunications manager at 3M Corp.
in St. Paul, Minn.
3M currently uses mostly Bay Networks
routers but has chosen Xylan's switches
for the company's corporate backbone.
Collins is particularly happy with Xylan's
ability to integrate switched Ethernet and
ATM.
The Omni Switch/Router has been
cloaked in a veil of secrecy, and until last
week was code-named X-Frame. Xylan
is so confident of the market for this
switch the company has told Wall Street
analysts that it expects the switch to
account for one-third of the company's
revenue in the fourth quarter of 1998.
Xylan's stock in slump
Xylan's stock price has been declining
steadily for weeks, as have most other
stocks, especially in the high-tech sector.
However, Xylan's steep descent is a
puzzle to many industry and financial
analysts because the company has seen
four good growth quarters, and is
considered to have a technologically
sound product line (see story, page 17).
Last week, Xylan went on a technology
road show, trying to convince financial
analysts that the company is in good
shape, despite its declining stock prices.
The analysts weren't hard to convince,
and many continue to recommend the
stock as a buy or as a strong buy, saying
the stock's real value should be in the $26
to $30 range. Last week, Xylan shares
were selling for $13, a 52-week low.
Selling more than switches?
Takeover rumors are a constant in this
business, and Xylan has been mentioned
as a possible target of Alcatel and Lucent.
To be fair, there's hardly a switch-ing
company in existence that isn't being
mentioned as a takeover target.
A recent news report that Alcatel was
looking at Packet Engines brought even
more uncertainty about Xylan, because
Alcatel accounts for nearly 20% of
Xylan's revenue, second only to IBM in
the OEM market. Jeff White, Packet
Engines' vice president of marketing, says
the company doesn't comment on rumors.
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