ZeitNet Extends ZATM ATM Adapter Line to EISA Bus; Fully Integrated Software Suite Available Today for Both LAN Emulation and Native ATM.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. , Nevada--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 27, 1995--ZeitNet Inc., a pioneer of low cost solutions for connecting workgroups and servers to high performance 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) networks, today announced the extension of its ATM adapter product line to the EISA (Extended ISA) Pronounced "ee-suh." A PC bus standard that extends the 16-bit ISA bus (AT bus) to 32 bits and provides bus mastering. ISA cards can plug into an EISA slot. bus platform. The ZATM EISA ATM Adapter is priced at $1,995 for fiber optic and $1,795 for unshielded twisted pair See twisted pair. (hardware) unshielded twisted pair - (UTP) Normal telephone wire (in the USA). It may be used for computer to computer communications, e.g. using a version of Ethernet or localtalk. It is much cheaper than standard "full-spec" Ethernet cable. interfaces and will ship within 60 days. ZeitNet announced its SBus ATM adapter in May 1994 and was the first vendor to ship a PCI-bus adapter in September 1994. The EISA bus is widely used for high-performance workstations and servers -- where ATM is typically first implemented -- making it the most logical addition to the ZeitNet adapter product line. "It is ZeitNet's goal to provide broad platform support for the cost-effective deployment of ATM," said George Marshall, a founder of the 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. and director of product marketing for ZeitNet. "To do this, we have leveraged thousands of man-hours on our SBus and PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). platform offerings to bring the EISA adapter to market with a fully integrated and robust software suite." Designed to the Platform Keeping in mind the limitations of the lower speed EISA bus, ZeitNet architected its new adapter with an on-board processor and packet memory to maintain the high-performance expected of ATM. (The on-board processor and packet memory are not required in its SBus and PCI adapters, because of the inherent performance in these bus platforms -- see ZeitNet Technology Brief, Keeping Adapter Cost, Latency Low). A proprietary DMA (1) (Digital Media Adapter) See digital media hub. (2) (Document Management Alliance) A specification that provides a common interface for accessing and searching document databases. controller on the EISA adapter reduces overhead on the host processor and a user-configurable burst mode allows maximum transfer rates for greater speed and efficiency. All ZeitNet ATM adapters adhere to ATM Forum standards for full duplex 155.54 Megabits per second (unit) megabits per second - (Mbps, Mb/s) Millions of bits per second. A unit of data rate. 1 Mb/s = 1,000,000 bits per second (not 1,048,576). E.g. Ethernet can carry 10 Mbps. (Mb/s) SONET fiber and UTP UTP (uridine triphosphate): see uracil. (Unshielded Twisted Pair) See twisted pair. UTP - unshielded twisted pair category 5 wire as well as the 100 Mb/s TAXI interface. Software Available for Legacy LAN or Native ATM Applications ZeitNet includes a highly integrated suite of software with its adapters to allow diverse application types to run over ATM, whether LAN- or native ATM-based. Legacy LAN applications can run over ATM networks via either the Internet Protocol (IP) over ATM or ATM Forum LAN Emulation protocol stacks, included. These protocol stacks are crucial to the integration of traditional Ethernet, Token Ring 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. local area networks with ATM backbones in preparation for migration to the ATM networks of the future. For developers writing native ATM applications, a robust implementation of the ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL (ATM Adaption Layer) The part of the ATM protocol that breaks up application packets into 48-byte payloads which become ATM cells when the 5-byte headers are attached. The AAL resides between the higher layer transport protocols and the ATM layer. ) is included for programming directly to ATM, as well as ATM Forum-compatible User Network Interface (UNI) Signaling version 3.0. ZeitNet software also supports the ATM Forum's Interim Local Management Interface (ILMI ILMI Integrated Local Management Interface ILMI Interim Local Management Interface ILMI Interim Link Management Interface (ATMF) ILMI Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor (US National Park Service) ), management protocol which simplifies network configuration and management. Software Integration Eases Hardware Implementation, Cost Issues The integration of ZeitNet's software allows multiple sessions to coexist using a single ATM adapter. For example, a single server can be configured to support both native ATM clients running real-time applications and legacy LAN-based clients connected via ATM/LAN switches using a single ATM adapter in the server. Likewise a single adapter in a client can connect with both an IP-based application at the server and a direct ATM connection. "The ability to run multiple, live sessions off a single adapter addresses one of the hidden costs of ATM," explained Marshall. "If you had to install a separate adapter for each application -- both at the server and at the client -- hardware costs would get out of hand, not to mention network management issues." About ZeitNet ZeitNet is a pioneer in providing low cost solutions for connecting workgroups and servers to high performance Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks. Since its inception in 1993, ZeitNet engineers have worked within the ATM Forum and on the company's own development to further the role of ATM in the future of Networking. Today of ZeitNet's 75 employees, more than 50 engineers in Santa Clara, Calif., and in India are working on ATM and Fast Ethernet projects. Its product line includes ATM adapters for SBus, PCI and EISA platforms, as well as its highly integrated ZATM Software Module Suite, including LAN Emulation, IP over ATM, AAL, ATM-Forum Signalling and ILMI. ZeitNet is located at 5150 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, Calif. 95054. Telephone: 408/986-9100. Fax 408/562-1889. Electronic Mail: info@zeitnet.com. CONTACT: Gallagher PR Kevin Gallagher, 510/743-7830 |
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