Which pipe dream should we be smoking? (was Re: Possible topic?)

Tue Oct 21 06:09:33 UTC 1997

Hi,

You can get info at:

http://www.networks.digital.com/html/products_guide/hp-swch3.html

The Gigaswitch/FDDI is a different product than the Gigaswitch/ATM.  You
can insert ATM uplinks into the Gigaswitch/FDDI.

I won't discount Gigabit Ethernet to quickly (yet there are no router
interface available).  I believe Ether Channel has an opportunity depending
on what happens with the GSR but there is no switch to take advantage of it
(except maybe the Cat 5500).  But I do agree that traffic shaping
technology is critical to any long term design.  I guess the ideal solution
will be Gigabit Ether Channel (8Gbps) or Terrabit Ethernet with traffic
shaping if its not ATM at OC-192.

Thanks,

Joe Kucic

At 10:31 PM 10/21/97 -0700, Vadim Antonov wrote:
>>Aren't all the Gigaswitches from DEC ATM backed anyway? (FDDI is an
>>emulation on an OC3/12 card slot?) That's what the DEC literature seemed
>>to say when I perused it last.
>
>Not.  Gigaswitch is a crossbar-based _packet_ switch.  I recall reading
>fairly comprehensive article on its internals.  Most likely it is still
>available from somewhere on Internet.
>
>If i understand correctly, its ATM interfaces do packet shredding/reassembly.
>
>--vadim
>
>