GB Ethernet switches

Sun Nov 23 23:50:08 UTC 1997

Some private responses I have already received have indicated a poorly
scoped question....

I am interested in a gbE *platform*. The key element is the backplane
itself. The interfaces for now, and the near future would still be Fast
Ether to the routers. The problem I am attempting to solve is the one
that currently manifests itself in the DEC GigaSwitch - HOL blocking.
The solution lies in a multilayer array of gbE switches - but I am
interested in what is available and real *today*, not next summer -
hence my question. The Matrix of switches would communicate with each
other via gbE , but most of the gbE switches I know of also have FEC and
ATM interfaces, which is how they would communicate with the 75XXs etc.

Input still very welcome...

Rodney Joffe
Chief Technology Officer
Genuity Inc., a Bechtel company
http://www.genuity.net