Cisco Hopes New Switches Will Spur Use Of Gigabit Ethernet Technology

Cisco Systems Tuesday launched several 1000BaseT switches, which the networking equipment vendor is hoping will spur more companies to adopt Gigabit Ethernet technology in their networks.

The switches are intended for installation in LAN backbones, wiring closets, and server farms and include the company's Catalyst 3550-12T, Catalyst 2950-12, the Catalyst 4000-series 24-Port 10/100/1000BaseT Line Card, and the 1000BaseT Gigabit Ethernet converter.

Along with its new equipment, Cisco also partnered with Intel to co-market Gigabit Ethernet products, including the Cisco switches and network adaptors from Intel. Cisco and Intel also will jointly test and certify that their respective products work with each other and will provide customer service and support, said executives at both companies.

All of the Cisco switches are available this month, and prices for the switches range from $1,495 for the Catalyst 2950-12 to $9,995 for the Catalyst 3550-12T.

After beta testing the Cisco switches, Christian Hochfilzer, CEO of NetConstructor Networks, the San Diego Calif., hosting and technology division of Inspara LLC, says of the Gigabit-enabled 2950: "I was amazed that they managed to fit so much functionality into a product with such a low price tag. They are astoundingly economical in terms of both initial cost and maintenance." Features that particularly impressed Hochfilzer included redundancy built into the switches, their ability to optimize packet delivery, and their security.