3Com Unveils New Switching Technology Delivering Unprecedented Levels of Capacity and Control for Enterprise Networks.SANTA CLARA Santa Clara, city, Cuba Santa Clara (sän`tä klä`rä), city (1994 est. pop. 217,000), capital of Villa Clara prov., central Cuba. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 15, 1997-- Breakthrough ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) Pronounced "a-sick." A chip that is custom designed for a specific application rather than a general-purpose chip such as a microprocessor. Technology Enables Industry's Highest Layer 3 Switching Performance Scaling to 56 Million Packets Routing with Sophisticated Policy Management Global Networking Leader 3Com Corp. (Nasdaq:COMS COMS 3Com Corporation (stock symbol) COMS Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist COMS Continuous Opacity Monitoring Systems COMS City of Manchester Stadium (UK) ) today announced unparalleled switching technology that will enable customers to easily and cost-effectively migrate to high-speed, fully-switched networks. New today is FIRE (Flexible Intelligent Routing Engine), a fully-programmable Layer 3 switching, wire-speed routing ASIC technology, which is the heart of 3Com's third-generation Layer 3 switching architecture. Also new today is the CoreBuilder 3500 Layer 3 switch -- the first product to leverage the FIRE architecture -- which leads the industry by providing ten times the performance for as low as one-tenth the cost of a traditional backbone router. 3Com also announced its future plans to introduce the CoreBuilder 9000 Enterprise Switch family. The CoreBuilder 9000 Enterprise Switch family will enable customers to scale their networks to the highest ATM and Gigabit Ethernet An Ethernet standard that transmits at 1 Gbps. Used mostly to connect high-end workstations and servers as well as for network backbones, Gigabit Ethernet transmits full duplex from point to point using switches and half duplex in a shared environment (CSMA/CD) using a hub. aggregate switching rates in the industry - hundreds of gigabits of bandwidth - and, by integrating today's newly announced FIRE architecture, will also scale multiprotocol routing to an industry-leading 56 million packets per second. "With this announcement, 3Com continues its tradition of providing the market with the best performing networking solutions at the lowest possible cost," said Ron Sege, senior vice president of 3Com's Enterprise Systems organization. "Coupling products based on our new FIRE architecture with our currently shipping portfolio of switching solutions, 3Com surpasses the competition and remains the leading Layer 3 switching vendor for building next-generation enterprise networks." "This latest announcement by 3Com coincides with an emerging trend in the enterprise 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. backbone away from relatively slow and expensive traditional routers toward higher-performance, lower-cost switches that support Layer 3 functions," said John Armstrong
John Armstrong (October 13, 1717 – March 9, 1795) was an American civil engineer and soldier who served as a major general in the Revolutionary War. , principal networking analyst at Dataquest. 3Com Third-Generation Layer 3 Switching Architecture The FIRE ASIC technology provides support for extensive Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching, multiprotocol routing and policy-based network services, all at wire speed. FIRE implements the network control element of 3Com's TranscendWare framework: software embedded in network devices that controls traffic flow, optimizes network performance, automates administration tasks and enforces network policies. "The FIRE architecture's advanced functionality not only gives customers unprecedented network capacity and control, but also provides expansion capabilities that enable customers to meet their business requirements now and into the next millennium without compromising existing network investments," said David Tolwinski, vice president and general manager of 3Com's Switching Systems Switching systems (communications) The assemblies of switching and control devices provided so that any station in a communications system may be connected as desired with any other station. Division. "This new architecture capitalizes on 3Com's unmatched experience with Layer 3 switch design, based on our installed base of more than 600,000 Layer 3-enabled switch ports." CoreBuilder 3500 Provides Network Performance, Migration and Control The CoreBuilder 3500 switch raises the bar for Layer 3 switching solutions by combining leading price/performance with the robust network features required for corporate enterprise networks. It provides non-blocking, wire-speed, multiprotocol routing and switching on all ports, eliminating the performance bottleneck caused by legacy LAN An older local area network. It typically refers to Token Ring and FDDI, but may also refer to a slow 10 Mbps Ethernet. See legacy network. routers, while also preserving existing network wiring and subnet (SUBNETwork) A logical division of a local area network, which is created to improve performance and provide security. To enhance performance, subnets limit the number of nodes that compete for available bandwidth. topology. In addition, because customers' networks require seamless integration An addition of a new application, routine or device that works smoothly with the existing system. It implies that the new feature or program can be installed and used without problems. Contrast with "transparent," which implies that there is no discernible change after installation. of multiple technologies, the switch's modular design In the context of systems engineering, modular design — or "modularity in design" — is an approach aiming to subdivide a system into smaller parts (modules) that can be independently created and then used in different systems to drive multiple functionalities. supports Ethernet, 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. , Gigabit Ethernet, FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) Often pronounced "fiddy," it was a LAN and MAN access method that had its heyday in the mid-1990s. FDDI was an ANSI standard token passing network that transmitted 100 Mbps over optical fiber up to 10 kilometers. and ATM, as well as routing of IP, IP Multicast A one-to-many transmission of data over an IP network. It is used for a myriad of purposes including updating routers, announcing and discovering services and streaming media. IP multicast saves network bandwidth, because packets are transmitted as one stream over the backbone and only , IPX (Internetwork Packet EXchange) The network layer protocol in the NetWare operating system. Similar to the IP layer in TCP/IP, it contains a network address and allows messages to be routed to a different network or subnet. and AppleTalk protocols. As with all 3Com systems, the CoreBuilder 3500 switch is managed within 3Com's comprehensive Transcend Network Management solution. Advanced network management features such as full, embedded RMON (Remote MONitoring) Enhancements to the management information base (MIB) structure used by the simple network management protocol (SNMP). In 1991, RMON added comprehensive network monitoring capabilities. , RMON2 and Roving Analysis Port provide users with the functionality required to monitor and control the CoreBuilder 3500 switch. "We tested the CoreBuilder 3500 switch in a configuration of 24 Full Duplex Fast Ethernet ports. The CoreBuilder 3500 switch performed full wire-speed routing of both IP and IPX achieving the maximum throughput possible with no packet loss," said Kevin Tolly, president of The Tolly Group. "The CoreBuilder 3500 switch will provide us with a high-speed collapsed backbone to meet our needs going into the next century and will enable us to soon deploy Gigabit Ethernet downlinks to 3Com's SuperStack II desktop switches for a truly scalable, high-performance architecture," said Bob Bonham Bonham can refer to:
Coming Soon: New CoreBuilder 9000 Enterprise Switch Family 3Com will soon announce details for its new CoreBuilder 9000 Enterprise Switch family. The CoreBuilder 9000 technology-independent design underscores 3Com's belief that ATM and Gigabit Ethernet are complementary technologies. Therefore, the CoreBuilder 9000 family will support both high-density cell and packet switching. Further, the CoreBuilder 9000 will also support multiprotocol, wire-speed routing/Layer 3 switching that will scale to 56 million packets per second by using multiple FIRE ASICs in a single chassis. Pricing and Availability The CoreBuilder 3500 base unit starts at $9,000. A typical configuration consisting of a chassis, 24 ports Fast Ethernet, management module, base switching and IP software with redundant power supplies is priced at $27,395. A competitive legacy router configuration could cost as much as 10 times that amount. A configuration featuring a Gigabit Ethernet downlink with 18 Fast Ethernet ports is priced at $24,595. The CoreBuilder 3500 switch will also support ATM and FDDI. Pricing and availability for those modules will be announced later this year. The CoreBuilder 3500 switch is available beginning in November 1997. About 3Com Corp. 3Com Corp. enables individuals and organizations worldwide to communicate and share information and resources at anytime from anywhere. As one of the world's preeminent suppliers of data, voice and video communications technology, 3Com has delivered networking solutions to more than 100 million customers worldwide. With global reach and local touch, the company provides enterprises, network service providers and carriers, small businesses and consumers with comprehensive, innovative information access products and system solutions for building intelligent, reliable and high performance local and wide area networks. 3Com has worldwide revenues of more than $5.6 billion and employs approximately 13,000 people in 45 countries. For further information, visit 3Com's World Wide Web site at http://www.3com.com . -0- 3Com and SuperStack are registered trademarks. CoreBuilder and TranscendWare are trademarks of 3Com Corp. All other brands and names are property of their respective owners. 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 Susan Ursch, 508/264-1486 Susan_Ursch@3Com.com |
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