Back to the 1997 tech planning survey Includes complete survey results. Emmett is a freelance writer in Wallingford, Pa. She can be contacted at ArielleEm @aol.com.

Gigabit gap

By Arielle Emmett
Network World, 12/15/97

Gigabit Ethernet isn't on the syllabus at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke. The school will implement a campus ATM backbone in the next few years that will evolve parallel to the school's FDDI ring, says David Harrison, technical support services manager at the college.

ATM will deliver higher bandwidth between campus buildings and support video and data, which Harrison says are key to long-distance educational offerings.

Because the school already is linked to the Virginia Broadband Network via DS-3 ATM WAN links, ATM was a natural, scalable choice for the campus.

"We'd like to migrate directly to ATM and bypass Gigabit Ethernet switches,'' says Harrison, who believes it makes sense to develop a parallel network and avoid a forklift upgrade.

Harrison isn't the only respondent who's currently unmoved by Gigabit Ethernet and its high price tag. A mere 10% of respondents currently use Gigabit Ethernet switches, and more than half report no plans to use them in the future. What's more, ATM's maturity and the trust it commands from users give it a leg up.

"Nobody's paying for Gigabit Ethernet,'' says Steve Jennings, a systems engineer with Dallas-based network hardware vendor Sentient Networks, Inc. He thinks people are waiting for ATM to take off at the desktop. When it does, the resulting ATM price cuts could obviate Gigabit Ethernet, he says.

However, those who are interested in Gigabit Ethernet said its simplicity and high capacity are appealing. Virginia's IT division will deploy Gigabit Ethernet in its backbone because "it's a natural migration path,'' Taylor says. The outlook for Gigabit Ethernet also will get brighter when the standard is finalized and prices come down.

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