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To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (10593)2/27/1999 11:57:00 PM
From: jach  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 12559
 
March 01, 1999, Issue: 754
Section: News & Analysis

Switch Vendors Turn Up Horsepower
John Fontana

With a growing stable of Web-based and pipe-clogging applications, large
enterprises want backbones that can really hum.

"We needed Gigabit Ethernet to prepare for bandwidth intensive applications,"
said Bob Thompson, manager of telecommunications for San Antonio
Community Hospital.

The hospital is preparing to deploy filmless radiology and a cardiac lab
application that functions similar to streaming video. "We are trying to be
proactive. We want to flick this stuff on when the time comes and not worry if
the network can handle it," Thompson said.

And vendors are responding to that need for speed. This week Fore Systems
will unveil a new switch, as well as hardware and software upgrades. Last
week, Cisco introduced a new Gigabit Ethernet switch. Hewlett-Packard also
recently added Gigabit Ethernet uplinks to its ProCurve switch line.

Indications are that speed is also getting cheaper. Pricing on Layer 3 Gigabit
Ethernet ports dropped $200 in the past quarter to $1,700 and port
shipments climbed 153 percent between the third and fourth quarters last
year, according to Cahners In-Stat Group. Pricing on Layer 2 Gigabit
Ethernet has dipped $600 to $1,300 per port in the past year.

ATM pricing, however, is holding steady, averaging about $1,400 per port,
according to Cahners. The number of ports in ATM LAN switching has
grown 45 percent over the past year.

Fore this month will release the ForeRunner ASX-1200, a scalable 10-Gbps
ATM switch that will support OC-48c interfaces in the second half of this
year. Also this month, Fore will add an OC-3c/OC-12c port card to its
ASX-4000, which will let high-speed edge devices connect directly to the
core.

Fore also is releasing ForeThought 6.0, its internetworking software. Version
6.0 features hierarchical private network-to-network interfaces, which will
support up to 1 million physical switches on a network.

Cisco has added to its bulging Gigabit Ethernet portfolio with the Catalyst
4912G, a 12-port, 24-Gbps aggregation switch. The company is positioning
the device for use with server farms or to aggregate wiring closets.

Cisco said support for Gigabit EtherChannel trunking provides high-speed
links to the backbone. Cisco also shipped an 18-port Gigabit Ethernet card
for its modular Catalyst 4000 line.

Also last week, HP introduced the ProCurve Switch 2424M, a 24-port
10/100-desktop switch with a slot for Gigabit Ethernet uplinks.

Copyright ® 1999 CMP Media Inc.