Acacia Networks, Inc. Introduces Stackable 10 100 Lan Switch Using Third-Generation "Programmable ASICs"; Consumer Electronics Chips Bring Breakthrough Price Performance to LAN Switching.WILMINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 11, 1996--Acacia Networks, Inc., today launched the company with the introduction of NovaSwitch, a new generation of stackable and highly scaleable 10/100 LAN switches. A privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. based in Wilmington, Mass., Acacia was founded in January 1995 and has 40 engineers and scientists engaged in the development of high-speed 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. products and technology. Acacia's NovaSwitch family is based on powerful integrated circuits Integrated circuits Miniature electronic circuits produced within and upon a single semiconductor crystal, usually silicon. Integrated circuits range in complexity from simple logic circuits and amplifiers, about 1/20 in. (1. transplanted from multi-million unit consumer and commercial applications such as home video games See video game console. , multimedia PC gear, and wireless communications wireless communications System using radio-frequency, infrared, microwave, or other types of electromagnetic or acoustic waves in place of wires, cables, or fibre optics to transmit signals or data. . As a result, NovaSwitch delivers an unmatched combination of high performance, rich features and sophisticated network management for under $250/port. NovaSwitch provides 1.9 Gbps of internal bandwidth per switch and 3.4 Gbps of stacking throughput - both non-blocked. A full stack of seven units delivers up to 9 Gbps of system bandwidth. Wire speed performance, 5K MAC addresses per switch, integral 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. and less than 25 microseconds latency make NovaSwitch a true, wide-bandwidth stackable switch. By fulfilling switching requirements from the workgroup through the department at desktop prices, the NovaSwitch enables customers to deploy fewer levels of switching, resulting in simpler network designs and lower costs of acquisition and ownership. NovaSwitch comes in two basic models: The 2400EX, with 24 switched 10Base-T ports, and the 1600EX, an economical 16-port entry level model. Both include three expansion slots for adding a variety of NovaLink switching modules: 2 ports of 100Base-T, 8 ports of 10Base-T, 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. , a StackPlane stacking module, and in the future, an 1555 Mbps, ATM OC-3 interface. A Flexible Growth Path to Next Generation Networking Next Generation Networking (NGN) is a broad term to describe some key architectural evolutions in telecommunication core and access networks that will be deployed over the next 5-10 years. Acacia's new products bring all of the benefits of stackable hubs to 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. , plus a quantum leap quantum leap n. An abrupt change or step, especially in method, information, or knowledge: "War was going to take a quantum leap; it would never be the same" Garry Wills. in interconnect bandwidth. Affordable even for small workgroups, each NovaSwitch can be upgraded to support significant network growth and change. For example, a single NovaSwitch 2400EX can be expanded to support 24 Ethernet ports plus 6 switched 100Base-T ports; fully populated with 48 switched Ethernet ports; or configured with any other combination of 10Base-T and available high-speed uplinks. With the StackPlane module, NovaSwitch can be stacked up to seven units with as many as 280 wire speed, switched Ethernet ports. Other sample configurations include: 168 switched Ethernet ports and 28 switched 100Base-T ports; 168 Ethernet ports with 14 switched FDDI ports; and 224 Ethernet ports with seven 155 Mbps ATM interfaces. NovaSwitches can be hot-swapped in or out of the stack without interruption to networked communications. According to Alan Raderman, director of marketing at Acacia Networks, "NovaSwitch is designed to see and raise the competition on two fronts -- by offering more performance, features and scaleability than the market leader's stackable switch, at half the price; and by matching the price points of the leading desktop switches with infinitely more capabilities and growth potential in every category." Affordable -- Without compromise to Network Management Management is crucial to the effective deployment of switching in today's LANs. NovaSwitch has an on-board microprocessor dedicated to management tasks plus an RMON Accelerator Engine. Each switch includes three levels of RMON: four RMON groups integral to each port; and external RMON probe port; and an optional Advanced Management Module. An innovative bank of LEDs knows as the "mini-NOC" (mini-Network Operation Center) automatically displays a full set of at-a-glance status for all NovaSwitch ports and also serves as a series of per-port level-meters to report on activities such as bandwidth utilization, RMON events, packet throughput and buffering. Acacia also introduced NovaView Switch Manager, an intuitive Windows95-based GUI (Graphical User Interface) A graphics-based user interface that incorporates movable windows, icons and a mouse. The ability to resize application windows and change style and size of fonts are the significant advantages of a GUI vs. a character-based interface. for management of the NovaSwitch that runs standalone or under popular SNMP-based managers such as HP OpenView for Windows. "High Octane" Silicon Yields Performance and Flexibility The underlying technology for NovaSwitch is Acacia's "SNaP 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. " (Switched Network adaptable Processor) chipset, a third generation blend of "high-octane" silicon that includes a powerful, programmable embedded DSP (1) (Digital Signal Processor) A special-purpose CPU used for digital signal processing applications (see definition #2 below). It provides ultra-fast instruction sequences, such as shift and add, and multiply and add, which are commonly used in math-intensive core. SNaP ASICs enable the company to deliver enhancements and new product families with quick time-to-market. New NovaSwitch features can be added and updates can be made to comply with emerging standards (e.g., vLAN) via download of software. Pricing and Availability The NovaSwitch will begin shipping in June. Pricing for the NovaSwitch family ranges from $4,495 for the 1600EX to $5,995 for the 2400EX and $1,895 for a 2-port 100Base-TX module. A variety of other NovaLink expansion modules are also available from $995 to $2,995. -0- Note to Editors: Acacia Networks, NovaSwitch, NovaLink, StackPlane, NovaView, mini-NOC and SNaP ASIC are trademarks of Acacia Networks, Inc. Other products and company names are trademarks of their respective holders. Acacia can be reached via Email at info@acacianet.com and on the Web at www.acacianet.com. CONTACT: Acacia Networks Alan Raderman, 617/937-1786 or Stringer & Co. Linda Kincaid, 617/246-0444 |
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