Cabletron smartens up switches

By Robin Schreier Hohman
Network World, 6/29/98

Cabletron Systems, Inc. later this month will up the price/performance ante for a chassis-based switch when it rolls out a 48-port Ethernet module for the SmartSwitch 6000. The company early next year plans to introduce a 32-slot version of its SmartSwitch Router, a highly praised switch that came from the Yago Systems, Inc. acquisition.

The 6000 module, which will have 48 Ethernet ports, one High Speed Interface Module (HSIM), and optional ATM, Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet uplinks, will sell for around $100 per port, sources said. The highest density module currently available for the 6000, a five-slot chassis for the wiring closet, has 24 ports.

Some Cabletron customers predicted they would buy the modules as fast as Cabletron shipped them. "It gives us the density that basically nobody else has," said James Wiedel, director of networking at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Wiedel said he expects to buy hundreds of modules.

For some, the number of ports may be more important than the price. "Anything I can do to improve port density is welcome," said Roland Voyages, network manager at NationsBanc Capital Markets in New York.

Cabletron is already getting rave reviews for its SmartSwitch Router as well, with a price under $500 per port. The current SmartSwitch Router is selling very well, according to Will Land, director of sales and marketing at InfoSys Services, Inc., a value-added reseller in Maryland. He said different kinds of companies are finding the SmartSwitch Router a good fit. "It will fit into a legacy network with multiple vendors because it is all standards-based," Land said.

The SmartSwitch Router switches 15 million packet/sec, and Cabletron is now shipping an eight-slot chassis. The company will ship a 16-slot chassis later this year and a 32-slot chassis in the first quarter of 1999.

Cabletron can be reached at (603) 332-9400.