3Com Broadens ATM Family; 3Com Combines Existing Backbone Solution, New CELLplex Products and New Integrated Chipcom Offerings to Form Industry's Largest, Most Comprehensive ATM Offering.WASHINGTON, D.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--January 31, 1996--3Com Corporation (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :COMS COMS 3Com Corporation (stock symbol) COMS Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist COMS Continuous Opacity Monitoring Systems COMS City of Manchester Stadium (UK) ) announced a major expansion of its Asynchronous Transfer Mode See ATM. (communications) Asynchronous Transfer Mode - (ATM, or "fast packet") A method for the dynamic allocation of bandwidth using a fixed-size packet (called a cell). See also ATM Forum, Wideband ATM. ATM acronyms. Indiana acronyms. (ATM) family of products, here today at ComNet '96. Building on the increasing market acvceptance of its ATM backbone solution, which began shipping sixth months ago with full standard LAN Emulation See LANE. support, 3Com is introducing new ATM products and enhancements for both its standalone stand·a·lone adj. Self-contained and usually independently operating: a standalone computer terminal. CELLplex ATM switching products and its multifunction integrated ONcore chassis products. "3Com now has a wide range of ATM products for a variety of customer needs," said Bob Finocchio finocchio: see fennel. , executive vice president of 3Com Corporation. "Judging by the large number of ATM wins and installations over the last six months, 3Com has seen a remarkable increase in market acceptance of our ATM backbone solution. Now, we have expanded from our foundation to provide an even wider range of ATM products. These new solutions offer our customers easy ATM migration paths for multiple LAN (Local Area Network) A communications network that serves users within a confined geographical area. The "clients" are the user's workstations typically running Windows, although Mac and Linux clients are also used. interfaces, and as the ATM market grows and changes, our ATM family is best-suited to meet these needs." New CELLplex Offerings 3Com is now shipping in volume the industry's first integrated, high-density Ethernet/ATM switching module -- the 7200 Ethernet/ATM interface card for the CELLplex 7000 switch. The new 7200 Ethernet/ATM card enables the CELLplex 7000 to be used both as a backbone switch, or closer to the edge of the network as a closet device. With the 7200 interface card, users can optimize ATM port count for backbone use, or increase Ethernet port A socket on a computer or network device for plugging in an Ethernet cable. See WAN port. density to meet requirements of wiring closet The central distribution or servicing point for cables in a network. See MDF and wire center. devices -- all in an integrated chassis solution. The CELLplex 7000 switch -- with 7200 interface cards - supports up to 48 switched Ethernet An Ethernet network that is controlled by a switch instead of a shared hub. The switch cross connects all clients, servers and network devices, giving each sending-receiving pair the full rated transmission speed. ports and 12 ATM ports -- an industry first. The 7200 interface card supports OC-3c 155 Mbps interfaces for local and backbone connections or a 45 Mbps interface for wide area connectivity. The module features standard (ATM Forum A membership organization founded in 1991 to promote ATM networking technology. It worked with ANSI and the ITU to set standards. Its first specification in 1992 defined the User-Network Interface (UNI). In 2004, the Forum merged with the MPLS and Frame Relay Alliance. 1.0) LAN Emulation to provide seamless connectivity between ATM and legacy networks. The 7200 interface card provides fully redundant ATM/Ethernet chassis switching. The 7200FL (Fiber Link) Ethernet/ATM interface card provides 12 fiber Ethernet ports and makes the CELLplex 7000 switch attractive for collapsed backbone A network configuration that provides a backbone in a centralized location, to which all subnetworks are attached. A collapsed backbone is implemented in a router or switch that uses a high-speed backplane that can handle the simultaneous traffic of all or most of its ports at full wire applications using Ethernet throughout the building. The entire CELLplex-based ATM network is managed with Transcend Enterprise Manager, which provides easy and powerful virtual LAN Also called a "VLAN," it is a logical subgroup within a local area network that is created via software rather than manually moving cables in the wiring closet. It combines user stations and network devices into a single unit regardless of the physical LAN segment they are attached to and management. The 7200 interface card brings added power to 3Com's ATM backbone solution and helps strong market acceptance in large-scale networks. The University Hospital in Denver is currently deploying more than 50 CELLplex switches with 7200 interface cards into its core 3,000-user network, constituting one of the world's largest ATM-based networks. "We require tremendous bandwidth for our Hospital network, and this need will continue to grow rapidly as we move more medical applications such as X-rays and imaging onto our network," said Matt Spencer, Director of Network Services, Telecommunications and End User Computing Using a desktop or laptop computer. at University Hospital. "We feel that 3Com has the best ATM backbone solution today with standards-based, integrated ATM and Ethernet switching A device that connects clients and servers to each other in an Ethernet network. See switched Ethernet. . The company has worked closely with us to bring our large-scale ATM networking ideas to fruition." 3Com's Integrated, High-Density ATM/Fast Ethernet Switching Solution To even further broaden CELLplex 7000 switch market reach into the high-growth Fast Ethernet An earlier name for 100Mbps Ethernet. See 100Base-T. (networking) Fast Ethernet - A version of Ethernet developed in the 1990s(?) which can carry 100 Mbps compared with standard Ethernet's 10 Mbps. It requires upgraded network cards and hubs. market, 3Com today announced its integrated, high-density 7600 Fast Ethernet interface card. The CELLplex 7000 switch with the 7600 interface card installed supports any combination of ATM and Fast Ethernet switching. The 7600 interface card offers 16 Fast Ethernet ports, and combined in a four module configuration in the CELLplex chassis, the 7600 offers an unparalleled port density of 64 Fast Ethernet switching utilizing a 2.5 Gbps ATM switching engine a locomotive for switching cars from one track to another, and making up trains; - called also switch engine ltname>. See also: Switching . Target pricing for the 7600 interface card is $1,000 per port. With these latest additions, the CELLplex switch is a complete ATM/LAN collapsed solution that delivers high function ATM switching through its integrated ATM switching, LAN interfaces, LAN Emulation services, standards-based software support and powerful network management with Transcend. New CELLplex 2.2 Software Delivers ATM-Based High Function Switching 3Com also announced today a new software version for the CELLplex family, featuring enhanced technology to enable more flexible, large-scale and robust ATM networks. Building on its standard LAN Emulation (ATM Forum 1.0), SVC (1) (Switched Virtual Circuit) A network connection that is established at the time the transmission is required and disconnected when the session is completed. signaling and network management features that it delivered first to market, these new features include enhanced IISP IISP Information Infrastructure Standards Panel (ANSI) IISP Interim Interswitch Signaling Protocol IISP Institute of Information Security Professionals IISP International Institute for Software Process support and LAN Emulation Services redundancy. The enhanced IISP support provides automated routing table A database in a router that contains the current network topology. See routing protocol. configuration load sharing Distributing the workload between two or more computers. See load balancing. and redundancy to ease network set-up and to bring enhanced flexibility and robustness for large network topologies See topology. . The redundant LES/BUS (LAN emulation server/broadcast and unknown server) feature provides fault tolerance See fault tolerant. (architecture) fault tolerance - 1. The ability of a system or component to continue normal operation despite the presence of hardware or software faults. This often involves some degree of redundancy. 2. to emulated LANs and can prevent single points of failure for mission critical networks. CELLplex 2.2 software is available today. Complete, Interoperable The ability for one system to communicate or work with another. See interoperability. ATM Solution With 3Com's ONcore Solution 3Com today announced full interoperability and integrated management between CELLplex-based ATM networks and 155 Mbps ATM switching in the ONcore system. ONcore offers 3Com customers a complete, multifunction hub with switching and repeating of all LANs -- and ATM switching -- in one fault-tolerant platform. 3Com is also announcing integrated LAN-ATM functionality for the ONcore ATM switching products. The new LAN-ATM module for the ONcore Integrated System features up to four Ethernet or Token Ring A local area network (LAN) access method developed by IBM. Conforming to the IEEE 802.5 standard, Token Ring uses a token ring access method and connects up to 255 nodes in a star topology at 4, 16 or 100 Mbps. LAN ports which are switched to the internal ATM fabric. 3Com Supports ATM-25 For Next-Generation Desktops 3Com also announced today its plans for support of desktop 25 Mbps ATM solutions across its product line. The company's latest complete solutions for desktop ATM networking will include the following: -- ATM-25 Adapter Cards See adapter and expansion board. : ISA (1) (Instruction Set Architecture) See instruction set. (2) (Interactive Services Association) See Internet Alliance. (3) (Internet Security and Acceleration) See .NET. card now available. -- ATM-25 Interface for the ONcore Integrated System: Featuring up to 12 ports per slot, or over 150 ports per hub, the ONcore System provides a powerful chassis solution for ATM-25. -- Standalone ATM-25 Switching: 3COM will also expand the CELLplex product line to include a workgroup ATM-25 switch. The new CELLplex 4000 supports 16 25 Mbps ports, with integrated LAN Emulation services and 155 Mbps downlinks. "3Com's relationship with IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) is enabling us to broaden our ATM product offering and to provide solutions which are interoperable across multiple vendors," said Nachman Shelef, vice president and general manager of 3Com's ATM division. "With the latest 25 and 155 Mbps ATM switching capability for the ONcore system, 3Com now provides a powerful multifunction solution that is fully interoperable and intermanageable with our CELLplex-based ATM products. We can now enable ATM to the desktop from 25 Mbps to 155 Mbps, in both stackable and chassis-based platforms. All together, this ATM portfolio offers customers a wide range of choices to meet their specific needs." Next-Generation ATM Technology Plans 3Com is developing next-generation ATM technology that will focus on three major areas: advanced ATM switching, ATM software and edge-device technology. This technology will be implemented throughout 3Com's existing and future product families -- including CELLplex- and ONcore-based platforms. 3Com and IBM have agreed to continue collaborating on integration of leading ATM technology into the ONcore System, combining elements of each company's extensive technology portfolio. 3Com's advanced ATM switching technology enables up to 50 Gbps of performance as well as scalable interface capability from 25 Mbps to 1.2 Gbps. This technology will enable 3Com's ATM platforms to support up to 200 OC-3 ports. 3Com plans to integrate this technology in early 1997. 3Com ATM Product Availability In addition to offering CELLplex- and ONcore-based ATM network platforms, 3Com is incrementally leveraging its existing switching technology to provide ATM interface solutions across its broad product family. This includes ATM interfaces for its highly successful LinkSwitch stackable switching products, LANplex chassis-based switches and NetBuilder II routers. In addition, a series of high-performance ATM adapters, both for 155 Mbps and 25 Mbps data rates, are available now. Listed below are details on product availability and pricing, where available. -0-
ATM
Availability/
Price
(when
Product Specs available)
Switches: Super Stack LinkSwitch 1000 24 Ethernet ports with ATM 2H 1996 LinkSwitch 2700 12 Ethernet ports with ATM Shipping/$8,400 LinkSwitch 3000 6 Fast Ethernet ports with ATM 2H 1996 LinkSwitch 2000 12 Token Ring ports with ATM 2H 1996 ATM Switches: Workgroup CELLplex 4000 12-48 25 Mbps ports ATM switch June 1996 ONsemble 25 Mbps ATM Concentrator Shipping/$4,395
Switches: Small Chassis
LANplex 2500 FDDI and Ethernet with ATM June 1996
ONsemble LAN to ATM Bridge (Token Shipping/$9,895
Ring/Ethernet)
Data Center-Class Switches:
CELLplex 7000 ATM Switch Shipping/$15,200
CELLplex 1 Port 155 Mbps MMF Module Shipping/$1,200
CELLplex 1 Port 155 Mbps SMF Module Shipping/$5,000
CELLplex 1 Port DS-3 Module Shipping/$2,400
CELLplex 1 Port UTP Module Q1 1996
CELLplex 7200 Interface Card: Shipping/$8,400
12 Ethernet/3 ATM Enet, $1,200
per ATM
CELLplex 7600 Interface Card: Q3 1996
16 Fast Ethernet
LANplex 6000 Ethernet/FDDI/Fast 2H 1996
Ethernet/ATM
ONcore ATM Switch/Control Point Shipping/$14,995
ONcore 155 Mbps ATM interfaces Shipping/$6,285
(2 ports)
ONcore 100 Mbps ATM interfaces Shipping/$8,395
(4 ports)
ONcore 25 Mbps ATM interface Q3 1996
(12 ports)
ONcore Integrated Ethernet/TR to Q2 1996
ATM (4 ports)
ONcore LAN-to-ATM Bridge Module March 1996
MSH ATM 155 Mbps interface 2H 1996
ATM Adapters ATMLink Adapter 155 Mbps, SBus Shipping/$1,495 ATMLink Adapter 155 Mbps, PCI February/$1,195 ATMLink Adapter 25 Mbps, ISA Shipping/$495 Routers NetBuilder II 155 Mbps ATM interface Shipping/$14,995 3Com Corporation has helped more than 25 million people gain access to critical information through high speed networks. Designed to serve large enterprises, small offices and homes, 3Com products provide a scalable architecture to meet the immediate and long term connectivity needs of today's user. With research and development on three continents, 3Com is one of the data networking industry's largest and fastest growing companies. The company's innovative marketing, sales and support simplify communication, optimize network reliability and protect customer investments. For further information, visit 3Com's WorldWide Web site at http://www.3Com.com. -0- Note to Editors: CELLplex, LinkSwitch and ATMLink are trademarks. LANplex, ONcore, ONsemble and NETBuilder are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation. 3Com and Transcend are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation. All trademarks belong to their respective organizations. CONTACT: 3Com Public Relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most Ben Gibson, 408/764-5279 Ben_Gilson@3mail.3Com.com |
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