Gigabit Ethernet pioneer Packet Engines Inc. in two weeks will use NetWorld+Interop 98 to show off a new line of routing switches that max out at 52G bit/sec of switching capacity.
The new PowerRail devices are Packet Engines' first switches. The company broke into the Gigabit Ethernet market with network interface cards (NIC) and hubs, while most other Gigabit Ethernet start-ups jumped right into the switch market.
Kevin Sheehan, director of product management for Packet Engines, said the hubs and NICs gave customers a simple way to try Gigabit Ethernet before getting involved in more complex switching and routing.
The top-of-the-line PowerRail switch, the 5200, is designed to anchor backbone networks. The 14-slot device, formerly known as the Big Boy, boasts a 52G-bit/sec nonblocking switch fabric and can route more than 37 million packets per second, according to the company. The product handles IP and IPX traffic at wire-speed.
The switch can support up to 240 100Base-TX links, 25G-bit/sec links or a mix of these interfaces and others. The device can be used to prioritize traffic based on application type and includes eight priority queues per port.
Ames Laboratory, a Department of Energy National Lab in Ames, Iowa, is among the earliest PowerRail 5200 customers. The lab is testing one of the Packet Engines switches to support a cluster of 12 Digital Equipment Corp. Alpha-based servers running molecular dynamics simulations.
"This is one of the first switches of this variety with a shared memory architecture, and for our purposes that's what's needed to deliver as much dedicated bandwidth as possible to each computer," said David Halstead, associate scientist at Ames Laboratory. The lab is only getting about 230M-bit/sec throughput from each Gigabit Ethernet port on the PowerRail 5200, but Halstead said TCP/ IP stacks -- not the switch -- are to blame.
Packet Engines' product line also includes the seven-slot PowerRail 2200 chassis, a smaller version of the 5200 that features a 22G-bit/sec switch fabric and a 14.88 million packet/sec routing rate.
Packet Engines rounded out the switch line with a stand-alone device dubbed the PowerRail 1000. This edge device has 10G bps of switching capacity and is configured with two Gigabit Ethernet ports and 20 100M-bit/sec ports.
The PowerRail 5200 costs $3,495 per 1G-bit/sec port and $540 per 10/100M-bit/sec port, and is available now. The 2200 costs $3,595 per 1G-bit/sec port and $550 per 10/100M-bit/sec port and will be available in the third quarter. The 1000 will cost $1,750 per 1G-bit/sec port and $225 per 10/100M-bit/sec port, and will be available in the third quarter.
Packet Engines: (509) 777-7000.
RELATED LINKS
Review: Gigabit Ethernet switches
Including Packet Engines'. Network World, 1/26/98.
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