Bandwidth, Features Added To Networking Hardware

By Monua Janah

endors are rolling out a slew of networking hardware products, promising customers more bandwidth and features at ever-lower prices, as they scramble to boost sales in a competitive market.

3Com Corp. last week introduced aggressively priced Gigabit Ethernet products to be deployed at the edge of the network to complement the company's high-end CoreBuilder switches. The new products include a stackable hub, two stackable switches, and a 10/100/1,000-Mbps network interface card. 3Com now has a complete Gigabit Ethernet line, from NICs to a high-end switch-routing platform; the company's Gigabit Ethernet price per port is $1,249 .

Startup Alteon Networks Inc. will unveil this week a multifunction device, the Acedirector, that combines LAN switching, server load balancing, caching, and other network services. Foundry Networks Inc. is launching a high-end gigabit switch-router (see story, " High-End Switch-Router ").

Bay Networks is weighing in with an aggressively priced 10/100-Mbps Ethernet switch and two hubs, refreshing its BayStack stackable hubs and switches. Bay also slashed prices on its existing BayStack switches-part of an effort to make Fast Ethernet more affordable at $75 a shared port and $149 for switched.

Despite the popularity of switched media, many companies continue to use hubs, which are less expensive and usually adequate. Pictographics, a digital-printing company in Las Vegas, runs two Bay hubs to connect 12 high-performance printers, 13 Windows NT workstations, and 12 Macintosh machines.

"The nice thing about the BayStack hubs is that they eliminate the need for swit ches," because they provide enough bandwidth for Pictographics' work, says Pictographics president Craig Miller. "Why pay for something we don't need? I thought I'd have to spend $5,000 to $7,000 to migrate to Fast Ethernet. Instead, it cost us $2,400 overall."

Cisco Systems and Intel are each introducing networking products for small to midsize businesses. Cisco'sNetworked Office Stack suite comprises a 10/100-Mbps switch; a 10/100-Mbps hub; and a branch office Web server, the Micro Webserver 200. Intel last week launched a line called InBusiness that includes hubs, switches, and an Internet-access device.

A raft of other products are expected at this week's Communications Networks show in Washington. Among the highlights: an announcement of products from Compaq Computer's networking business, and a session in which Cabletron Systems Inc. is due to shed light on how it will integrate its SecureFast switch-routing architecture with switch-routers from Yago Systems Inc., which Cabletron agreed to buy earlier this month.

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