Cisco routers to get copper Gigabit

SAN JOSE - Cisco users who are looking to boost routing speeds but don't want the aggravation of replacing their routers with Layer 3 switches may be interested in a new FlowWise module being announced this week.

Like FlowWise's previous module, the new RA 7000G card slides into a Cisco 7000 or 7500 router and acts like a Layer 3 switch, routing at high speeds.

The previous card stopped at Fast Ethernet; the RA 7000G has four copper Gigabit Ethernet ports, two fiber gigabit ports and four Fast Ethernet ports. The company plans to demonstrate the card at next month's NetWorld+ Interop '99 Atlanta.

Dan Markelov, president and CEO of New Age Communications, a network integrator and ISP in Pleasant Grove, Utah, says the new module will let his company add capacity to its Cisco 7000 shop without adding an entirely new box.

New Age currently has the Fast Ethernet FlowWise module and is evaluating the new card.

FlowWise claims the new module will forward packets at 3 million packet/sec, about 20 times as fast as Cisco says its Gigabit Ethernet Interface Processor runs.

FlowWise also claims that the card can forward packets at that rate even when access control lists are used. Access control lists are lists of users who have access to different network resources.

Routers consult the lists to grant or deny access to those resources. Using access control lists tends to slow down routers.

"I tried access control lists on the Cisco routers, but they're just too slow," Markelov says. He looks forward to using the lists with the upcoming FlowWise product, he says.

Network managers still have to configure the access control lists on the Cisco router, but the card learns those lists and uses them to filter traffic.

FlowWise's card requires little configuration because it learns where to route IP traffic by watching the first packet in a flow go through the router, says Randy Fardal, vice president of marketing at FlowWise.

By seeing what the router does with the packet, the module knows how to handle subsequent packets headed for the same destination. It then acts like a Layer 3 switch, forwarding packets at high speeds.

The delivery date for the RA 7000G depends on when chip maker Broadcom has copper Gigabit Ethernet chips available in quantity. Fardal says delivery is targeted for November. The card will cost $24,950.

FlowWise: www. flowwise. com