Switch Metric - Watch this space

The SmartBits test tools are taking a well-deserved break, the circuit breakers have stopped tripping and The Tolly Group's engineers are crunching the numbers. Next week, in Network World and on The Tolly Group's Web site, we'll unveil the first set of results for the 1999 Tolly Group/Network World Switch Metric (see feature in May 10 issue).

The response from the vendor community has been enormously positive. When Network World Editor in Chief John Gallant and I introduced this initiative just before January's ComNet 99 trade show, we heard responses of "count us in" almost instantaneously. In fact, the only major player that has not yet endorsed the project is Cisco.

While the Switch Metric benchmarking process will be ongoing - switches will be tested continually throughout the year - it was quite clear that a number of vendors wanted to be represented when the first sets of results were unveiled. In the end, we had test gear piled sky-high, power cords running every which way and multiple vendors testing in the lab at the same time. There were some vendors that we simply could not accommodate before the deadline - but results of ongoing tests will be posted as they become available.

In the first round, you'll see 15 switches from nine vendors - 3Com, Allied-Telesyn, Cabletron, Foundry Networks, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lucent, Olicom and VIPSwitch. Vendors were free to choose topology, number of ports and layers tested. Several vendors tested products in different configurations, so you'll see more than 15 sets of results.

The most complex tests conducted on the largest scale centered around pure Gigabit Ethernet configurations. Vendors presented seven products and not only chose the largest port configurations, but more complex logical configurations as well. Chassis with 12 to 64 ports of Gigabit Ethernet were represented. In addition to Layer 2 switching throughput, we conducted Layer 3 IP tests and Layer 3 IPX throughput tests, as well.

The performance of these Gigabit Ethernet products shows that this technology is clearly ready to take on a major role at the center of large, multiprotocol networks. Better yet, from a performance point of view, the "average" throughput was wire-speed for all tests. Very impressive.

Six Fast Ethernet switch tests were completed in time to make the cutoff. Interestingly, all of the Fast Ethernet testing was confined to Layer 2 - at the vendors' request. Clearly, the vendors see these products fitting nicely into the flat, departmental arena. Again, wire-speed was the rule.

In keeping with market tendencies, there was much less token-ring presence than Ethernet. In fact, only one vendor, Olicom, brought in token-ring gear for this round. IBM clearly was interested in establishing its Ethernet products. Olicom, following IBM's lead into Ethernet, is also slated to deliver Ethernet gear to be benchmarked in the very near future.

Stay tuned for the results.

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