Early copper Gigabit users rave on the technology

Early users of copper-based Gigabit Ethernet, or 1000Base-T, are finding the technology useful in a variety of applications, but one underlying benefit is clear - they get to keep their copper-based cable infrastructures.

Because Category 5 cabling makes up 80% of the wiring in corporate networks, copper-based Gigabit Ethernet switches and network adapters are becoming more popular, according to Cahners In-Stat Group. That's because users can install Gigabit Ethernet without having to do an expensive rewiring of their corporate networks with fiber-optic cable.

Shipments of 1000Base-T switch ports have surged, with copper-based Gigabit accounting for a quarter of all Gigabit Ethernet port shipments in the second quarter of this year.

Problems last year with 1000Base-T components from chip maker Broadcom slowed vendors' ability to ship copper-based Gigabit Ethernet products, says Lauri Vickers, a Cahners analyst. Those problems appear to be over now, she adds, noting her firm predicts that copper Gigabit ports will account for half of all 1,000M bit/sec ports by year-end.

Vendors that have added copper Gigabit switches and switch modules to their product lines include 3Com, Cisco, Extreme, Foundry Networks, Hewlett-Packard and Intel. Copper Gigabit network interface card (NIC) vendors that have emerged include 3Com, Alteon (a Nortel Networks company), Intel and SysKonnect.

Vickers says copper-based Gigabit switches are starting to take off in corporate wiring closets - a place where fiber previously had a hard time getting to because of its expense.

To extend Gigabit from the backbone to a workgroup, Vickers says, "users can just pop these [1000Base-T] switches into a wiring closet and connect them to the backbone with a fiber uplink. This can save them money and extra wiring efforts."

Michael O'Connor, LAN specialist for Hubbell Premise Wiring in Stonington, Conn., says Cat 5 cabling averages about half the price of fiber cable, which makes copper-based Gigabit Ethernet attractive. However, users should be aware that not all Cat 5 cable is Gigabit-ready, he says, adding that tests should be done on network cabling before any 1000Base-T gear purchase orders are filled out (see related story, page 167).

Still, many early users are taking the plunge and finding the waters warm.

Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va., is using 3Com's 12-port, 1000 Base-T SuperStack 3 Switch 4900 and NICs to install Gigabit Ethernet on its Cat 5 network.

"We have two scenarios where we're using it," says John Savage, chief systems engineer at the school. "One is a high-end-user scenario for connecting the workstations that are pushing lots of data," he says. "We have a group of database analysts who need to pass huge files from their workstations to a database server."

When analyzing a database file, these users can be accessing files that reach more than 1G byte, he adds.

The other scenario, Savage says, will be to use 1000Base-T ports to aggregate Fast Ethernet workgroup switches at high speeds within a building.

"The only limitation would be that your workgroups would have to be more centrally located because of the medium," which is limited to 100 meters, Savage says. "If you're crossing buildings, obviously you've got big issues, but within the same facility, it's not an issue at all."

At the headquarters of Mrs. Field's Cookies in Salt Lake City, Director of Network Administration Bob Folsom had seen client access to his Windows NT, Novell NetWare and AS/400 servers slow significantly in recent months as the company made acquisitions and increased its number of franchises in malls nationwide. To remedy this, he purchased an eight-port, 1000Base-T module for his Foundry FastIron II Plus switch with plans to get his most heavily accessed servers up to gigabit speed.

"We'd seen our servers' accessibility slow down a bit," Folsom says. "Installing [gigabit] connections to them seemed like the best way to fix that."

Mrs. Field's headquarters recently moved into a new facility wired with enhanced Cat 5e cabling, Folsom says, which tested to be adequate for Gigabit Ethernet. It was also less complicated than laying fiber.

"We didn't have the time to put in fiber, and we didn't need it to the desktop," Folsom says of his decision to wire the building with new Cat 5e cabling.

For e-Media, a provider of online, video-on-demand services, bandwidth is the lifeblood of its business. The company uses several dozen Extreme Networks Summit 7i switches with 1000Base-T ports to connect hundreds of Web, database and video servers.

Brent Wiese, vice president of infrastructure development for the New Canaan, Conn., firm, says copper-based Gigabit Ethernet is useful because it gives him the fat pipes his media servers need while letting his less bandwidth-hungry servers be on the same switch.

"The decision to go copper instead of fiber was a backwards-compatible decision" Wiese says.

"All of our servers don't need Gigabit Ethernet. Some of our Web servers, like [advertising] servers that only serve up text, don't justify the cost of Gigabit Ethernet," he says.