ALANTEC Offers Multiprotocol Switching For Workgroups; New Product Offerings Extend Bridging And Unique Multiprotocol Routing Features Of PowerHub Product Family From LAN Backbones And Departments To Workgroups.SAN JOSE San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 1995--ALANTEC 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 : ALTC ALTC Automatic Laser Target Classification ALTC Aparicio-Levy Technical Center (Tampa, Florida) ), a design pioneer of intelligent LAN switching
LAN switching is a form of packet switching used in local area networks. Switching technologies are crucial to network design, or to that minority of LANs that are used outside the home. hubs, today announced the new PowerHub 4000 series for the small workgroup segment of the LAN switching market. The PowerHub 4000 is the industry's first and only multilayer switching hub with bridging and multiprotocol routing as standard, built-in features for workgroup switches. Installing the PowerHub 4000, network managers will for the first time be able to bring multiprotocol 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 (VLAN See virtual LAN. VLAN - Virtual Local Area Network ) support to workgroups and high-end desktops. This support is available through ALANTEC's multilayer switching and unique multiprotocol routing capabilities. ALANTEC's new PowerHub 4000 series will comprise five, fixed configuration product offerings which provide 12 Ethernet connections and multiple high-speed uplink options for 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. or 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. connections. All models will come with full-featured bridging and the 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 , Novell 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. Shipments are slated to begin within 60 days. This new series of entry-level switching products is the most recent addition to ALANTEC's growing flagship PowerHub product family. At the March 1995 NetWorld + Interop trade show in Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. , ALANTEC announced the modular PowerHub 6000 designed specifically for departmental and high-end workgroup switching solutions. The PowerHub 6000 is scheduled to ship this month. Now with the 4000 series, ALANTEC will extend its PowerHub product family of multiprotocol switching hubs from the backbone and departmental sections of corporations' networks down to the desktop, while preserving a consistent software architecture. "We know from the experience of working with our customers that network congestion In data networking and queueing theory, network congestion occurs when a link or node is carrying so much data that its quality of service deteriorates. Typical effects include queueing delay, packet loss or the blocking of new connections. starts at the backbone and works its way toward the workgroup," said Paul Schaller, vice president of marketing for ALANTEC. "Our approach to switching parallels this trend, which is different from that of most of our competitors. "ALANTEC started at the backbone with a high-performance switching and routing product, our PowerHub 7000, and is extending the product line to other sections of the network, pushing the full-featured bridging, unique routing and other software capabilities of the PowerHub closer to the desktop. The introduction of the PowerHub 6000 and now the 4000 are proof points to this product strategy," Schaller said. Multilayer, Multiprotocol Switching Equals True Virtual LAN Support The PowerHub family is the only product line to bring both multilayer and multiprotocol switching to backbone, departmental and, with the PowerHub 4000 series, small workgroup sections of the 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. , allowing network managers to extend the reach of their corporate VLANs. VLANs are software-defined network configurations, logical workgroups or subnets that are not dependent on the physical location of end users. Most of ALANTEC's competitors provide VLAN-like support as a single-layer solution, creating logical bridge groups within Layer 2, or the data link layer, of the OSI (1) (Open System Interconnection) An ISO standard for worldwide communications that defines a framework for implementing protocols in seven layers. Control is passed from one layer to the next, starting at the application layer in one station, proceeding to the seven-layer interoperability model. As a single-layer solution, packets move within a single VLAN via bridging. ALANTEC takes VLAN support to a new level of capability. In addition to providing advanced Layer 2 bridge group support, the PowerHub family also connects logical subnets of its own and other vendors' VLANs by routing traffic between them using standard IP, IP Multicast, IPX and AppleTalk protocols. Only ALANTEC offers this multilayer, multiprotocol VLAN solution across its product line, and has been since the PowerHub first began shipping in 1991. Feature-Rich Switching Products For Small Workgroups The PowerHub 4000 will support 12 Ethernet ports and either two Fast Ethernet ports or one FDDI DAS connection. For Fast Ethernet 100BaseT connections, customers will have a choice of dual TX (twisted pair A thin-diameter wire (22 to 26 gauge) commonly used for telephone and network cabling. The wires are twisted around each other to minimize interference from other twisted pairs in the cable (Alexander Graham Bell invented this and was awarded a patent for it in 1881). wiring), dual FX (fiber) or mixed TX and FX. In addition to the 4000 series' full-featured bridging and unique multiprotocol routing support, the product will come standard with many of the high-performance software features found in other PowerHub products, including: port monitoring, which provides network managers with tools for network analysis, diagnostics and troubleshooting; complete packet error checking; static and learned addresses; user-definable logical filtering and VLAN support. The PowerHub's uniform software platform provides customers with the same features across the breadth of the product line for an integrated, end-to-end LAN switching solution. New PowerHub products focused at different aspects of the network can be added with total compatibility and customers will be able to migrate to future technologies, such as ATM, when they become available. Because the same software runs on all products, the PowerHub family is also easier for customers to support and allows reduced training costs, lowering overall cost of ownership. The PowerHub product family can be managed via PowerSight*, ALANTEC's graphical-based network management software application. With PowerSight, network managers can control the PowerHub's tight integration of hub, bridge and router features, manage bandwidth distribution and allocation, monitor segment utilization and create VLAN infrastructures from a single location. PowerSight supports industry-standard platforms including Sun Net manager, HP OpenView, 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) NetView 6000, and can function as a standalone UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). application. Pricing and Scheduled Availability PowerHub 4001, 12 Ethernets only $ 6,950 July PowerHub 4007, 12 Ethernets plus dual TX Fast Ethernets $ 7,950 July PowerHub 4009, 12 Ethernets plus one TX and one FX $ 8,450 July PowerHub 4008, 12 Ethernets plus dual FX Fast Ethernets $ 8,950 July PowerHub 4005, 12 Ethernets plus one FDDI DAS $ 9,950 Sept About ALANTEC ALANTEC Corporation designs, manufactures and markets intelligent switching hubs which increase network performance for local area networks. Founded in 1987 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., ALANTEC is the design pioneer of the industry's first multilayer LAN switching product, the PowerHub, which melds the strengths of both full-featured bridging and multiprotocol routing within a single LAN internetworking device. The PowerHub family is still the industry's only product line of multiprotocol LAN switches. ALANTEC is also the second largest worldwide supplier of switched Ethernet for the LAN backbone market segment based on dollar shipments, according to San Jose-based Dataquest, Inc. For sales and literature information, write via electronic mail to powerhub@alantec.com or call 1-800-ALANTEC. -0- Note to Editors: ALANTEC , PowerHub and PowerSight are trademarks of ALANTEC Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Photos available by request. CONTACT: ALANTEC Renate Steiner or Janice Benedict, 408/955-9000 or THE HORN GROUP Annette Shimada or Marilyn Callaghan, 415/579-6400 |
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