Santa Clara, California-based 3Com Corp has added two members to its SuperStack stackable environment (CI No 2,579) in the shape of an Ethernet remote access server and a sub-$4,000 Ethernet switch. The former is the AccessBuilder 2000, an addition to its AccessBuilder family. Aimed at the workgroup environment, the offering, which is available in four- and eight-port configurations, is based on an 80960 RISC processor and supports transmission speeds up to 115.2Kbps. According to the company, remote users can dial in using MS-DOS, Windows, Macintosh or Unix workstations to access local area network-based applications running on TCP/IP, NetWare, LAN Manager, Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT and AppleTalk servers. Security options include the Open Software Foundation Distributed Computing Environment, Security Dynamics Technolgoy Inc’s ACE Server, Novell Inc Bindery and NetWare Directory Services, and third party security products, says 3Com. AccessBuilder 2000 prices begin at $2,800 for the four-port model and $3,900 for the eight-port model. It ships this month. The LinkSwitch 500 is a Plug & Play 10-port Ethernet workgroup switch that provides full 10Mbps wire-speed switching on all ports. Management features incorporated in the 500 include in-band and out-of-band Simple Network Management Protocol for remote management of any network station, per-port statistics gathering, and full support for 3Com’s Transcend network management, says the company. The new device can be added to any SuperStack hub system requiring increased bandwidth and high-speed connections. It lists for $4,000 and is available now.
