Extreme Networks today unveiled two routing switches, intended for service providers, at this week's ComNet 2000 trade show in Washington, D.C.
The announcement mirrors a similar one from Foundry Networks (see http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2000/0119foundry.html). Though Foundry and Extreme's high-end switches have 256 gigabits per second of switching capacity, Extreme's switch can hold up to 192 Gigabit Ethernet ports, compared to Foundry's 64 ports.
Extreme also says its high-end box, the BlackDiamond 6816, can forward 192 million packets per second. It has 16 slots for connection modules, plus four slots for management switch fabric modules. The BlackDiamond 6808 has eight slots for connections, and two slots for switch fabrics.
Modules currently shipping include switch-fabric modules and eight-port Gigabit Ethernet modules with standard fiber-optic ports. In March, Extreme plans to ship a Gigabit Ethernet module with eight ports of the new MT-RJ fiber-optic connectors, a Gigabit Ethernet module with 12 ports of MT-RJ connectors, an eight-port 100/1000M bit/sec Ethernet module for copper wires, and a 48-port 10/100M bit/sec Ethernet module. A 96-port 10/100M bit/sec Ethernet module - using 50-pin telco connectors - is expected to ship in the second half of this year.
With the 96-port modules, a BlackDiamond 6816 could hold 1,536 ports of 10/100M bit/sec Ethernet.
To prepare the switches for connecting to the Internet, Extreme developed new capabilities, including Border Gateway Protocol, DiffServ and access control lists.
The 6808 is available now, and the 6816 is slated to ship this summer. The 6808 chassis costs $6,000, and the 6816 chassis costs $15,000. Switch fabric modules cost $12,000 each, and connection modules start at $204 per port.
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