Network Peripherals Reshapes Gigabit Ethernet Switch Market; Company Launches Breakthrough NuWaveArchitecture.MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 19, 1999-- Network Peripherals Inc. (NPI NPI National Provider Identifier, see there ), (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 :NPIX) an innovative leader in the network switching industry, today announced the release of its revolutionary NuWaveArchitecture, setting a new standard for price-performance in the rapidly growing Layer 3 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. switch market. Targeted toward OEMs, NPI will use its innovative NuWaveArchitecture to create the highest performance, most flexible Layer 3 Gigabit Ethernet routing switches for 30 to 50 percent less than the list prices of competitive products. Powered by NuWaveArchitecture NuWaveArchitecture is an Ethernet switch A device that connects clients and servers to each other in an Ethernet network. See switched Ethernet. design structure based on a family of Application Specific 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. (ASICs) developed by NPI. These proprietary ASICs are the building blocks NPI uses to create wire-speed stackable or standalone 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. and Gigabit switches. Using these ASICs, NPI can configure an extremely broad family of fully managed switches with up to 64 Gbps of bandwidth, operating at Layers 2 and 3 of the OSI stack The protocol stack in the OSI model. See OSI. . Fast Time to Market for OEMs In making the announcement, Network Peripherals President William F. Rosenberger said, "NuWaveArchitecture is the result of over two years and 20 million dollars in 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. research and development. NPI is applying its ASIC-based building block architecture to all of its future OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and products. Our OEM customers will be able very quickly to create or expand their product lines for the lucrative, rapidly growing small to mid-size enterprise markets. "NPI's NuWaveArchitecture is designed to deliver stackable, wire-speed, non-blocking performance with the most flexibility -- at prices aggressively competitive with less capable offerings from other vendors," Rosenberger said. Rosenberger added, "There are three major differences between NPI's market approach and product strengths and those of our competitors such as Extreme Networks and Foundry Networks Foundry Networks is a network system vendor selling high-end managed ethernet switches and routers. The company was founded in 1996 by Bobby R. Johnson, Jr. and is based in Santa Clara, California, USA. . First, we set out two years ago to build an incredibly powerful, flexible architecture that would be a common platform for an entire family of Gigabit Ethernet switches capable of easy modification for our OEM customers. "We did not set out to build one or two "point" products as our competitors did. Second, NPI makes the most extensive use of ASICs in its products than any competitor. That translates into significantly lower prices and higher reliability. Third, NPI is vertically integrated. All of our products are manufactured in our own ISO (1) See ISO speed. (2) (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, www.iso.ch) An organization that sets international standards, founded in 1946. The U.S. member body is ANSI. 9000 certified facility in Taiwan, contributing to our products' price competitiveness." "We will use this new architecture as the foundation not only for our OEM products, but for forthcoming NPI-branded switches. Modifications to our standard switch configurations as required by specific OEM customers can be delivered in virtually any stackable configuration in as few as three months after specification," said Jerry McDowell, Vice President of Marketing for NPI. "This applies to all switches based on NuWaveArchitecture to be announced To be announced (TBA) A contract for the purchase or sale of an MBS to be delivered at an agreed-upon future date but does not include a specified pool number and number of pools or precise amount to be delivered. over the coming weeks," McDowell added. Analysts, Customers Foresee Rapid Growth The Gigabit Ethernet market is expected to top 3.4 billion dollars in 2001, according to the Del Oro Group, a nationally recognized research firm. Mike McConnell, Director of Enterprise Management and 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. Programs at Infonetics Research, points out how high performance switches have impacted the rapid growth of this market: "The Layer 3 Gigabit Ethernet switch market is beginning to boom. End users are placing these devices in their data centers and wiring closets while moving their traditional multiprotocol routers out to the edges of their networks. "Some of the big players have not adequately addressed this market space, leaving room for a handful of smaller players to fill the gap. Time to market is key and the flexibility of the NuWaveArchitecture will help to speed the process." "NPI Makes Gigabit With Layer 3 Switching Affordable" Dan Nickels, President of Nitech, a Value Added Reseller See VAR. (company) value added reseller - (VAR, or "value added retailer") A company which sells something (e.g. computers) made by another company (an OEM) with extra components added (e.g. specialist software). (VAR), is similarly enthusiastic about NPI and NuWaveArchitecture. "NPI designs and sells advanced products at very aggressive prices. Their product reliability, extended product warranty and customer services are superior. NuWaveArchitecture products present tremendous new opportunities for our high-speed Storage Area Networks (SANs) business, including very cost-effective migration to higher-speed backbones. NPI makes Gigabit with Layer 3 switching affordable." Features and Expandability: Built for Wire Speeds, Flexibility Gigabit Ethernet switches built with NuWaveArchitecture route IP packets at wire speeds, support Quality of Service (QoS) traffic classes, and can have much-sought-after wide-area networking (WAN) interfaces. These products, "Powered by NuWaveArchitecture," can quickly be reconfigured by OEMs, integrators or end-users without significant hardware or software re-engineering, adding much-needed flexibility for dynamic application environments. VLAN See virtual LAN. VLAN - Virtual Local Area Network , Support, Convenient Management Options NPI's NuWaveArchitectureswitches support both Layer 2 and Layer 3 Virtual Local-Area Networks (VLANs), including the ability to contain Internetwork Packet Exchange (networking) Internetwork Packet eXchange - (IPX) A network layer protocol initially developed at XEROX Corporation and made popular by Novell, Inc. as the basic protocol in its Novell NetWare file server operating system. (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 other non-IP traffic automatically by creating protocol-based VLANs. Network administrators can configure options at any time, on any port, to eliminate traditional routers and their bottlenecks, set priorities for different types of network traffic and keep bandwidth-intensive applications such as video under control. Support for IPX routing is currently under development. Switches "Powered by NuWaveArchitecture" offer a range of management choices including NPI's own built-in management software, which can be accessed using a Web browser The program that serves as your front end to the Web on the Internet. In order to view a site, you type its address (URL) into the browser's Location field; for example, www.computerlanguage.com, and the home page of that site is downloaded to you. such as Microsoft Internet Explorer See Internet Explorer. , Netscape Navigator or Netscape Communicator. NuWaveArchitecture-based switches also support Hewlett-Packard's OpenView, as well as other management systems based on the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) A widely used network monitoring and control protocol. Data are passed from SNMP agents, which are hardware and/or software processes reporting activity in each network device (hub, router, bridge, etc. ). Non-Blocking Stacking Without Wasting Ports To satisfy the network manager's demand for products that can grow with a company's network, NuWaveArchitecture features a unique non-blocking stackable design that permits the development of products that can grow from 24 Fast Ethernet ports to 120 ports. This innovative approach to increasing port density gives customers the performance and modularity of a high-priced chassis in an economical stackable design. Building with NuWaveArchitecture Products "Powered by NuWaveArchitecture" can be created in many varieties. Examples include:
-- Data center or "power work group" standalone managed switches
with up to 15 Gigabit ports or a mix of Gigabit and Fast Ethernet
options; and
-- Wiring closet, collapsed backbone, departmental switches -- with
high or low port densities that can be standalone or stackable,
Layer 2 or Layer 3 Fast Ethernet switches with or without Gigabit
options.
Availability and Pricing NPI is taking the lead in aggressive per-port pricing and setting new standards of engineering excellence in the Layer 3 10/100/Gigabit Ethernet switch market. Switches Powered by NuWaveArchitecture are forecast at price points 30 to 50 percent lower than similarly configured Layer 3 Gigabit Ethernet switches while offering superior performance and flexibility. NuWaveArchitecture products will be available for OEM evaluation during June of 1999 with initial shipments to OEM partners and NPI's worldwide VAR channel beginning in Q3 1999. The first NPI Gigabit Ethernet switch "Powered by NuWave-Architecture," the Keystone24g, was also announced today (see separate release). Contact NPI at 800/674-8855 for further information. Network Peripherals, The Gigabit Ethernet Company(TM) Network Peripherals Inc. (NPI) (NASDAQ:NPIX), headquartered in Milpitas, supplies a full range of Layer 2/Layer 3 Ethernet switches, and 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. switches and hubs, on an OEM basis to other industry leading manufacturers. NPI also sells its own brand products to the worldwide VAR channel. NPI's primary focus is on 10/100/1000 Layer 2/Layer 3 Gigabit Ethernet switches built with its ASIC-based NuWaveArchitecture. These products will be used as switching solutions for workgroups, wiring closets and backbones, and are designed to enhance the bandwidth and performance of small to medium enterprise networks, embrace all popular high-speed technologies and preserve the end-user's current Ethernet investments. For more information about NPI call 800/674-8855 or go to http://www.npix.com on the World Wide Web. NuWaveArchitecture, "Powered by NuWaveArchitecture" and Keystone24g are trademarks of Network Peripherals. Other trademarks are property of their respective owners. |
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