Tut Systems Inc – the Pleasant Hill, California company that claims to have a system enabling 155Mbps Asynchronous Transfer Mode to be run over Category 3 unshielded twisted pair cabling (CI No 2,604) – has released its first products. If the technology lives up to its promise, it could kill off the embryonic standard for 25Mbps Asynchronous Transfer Mode (CI No 2,706) by enabling users to run Asynchronous Mode at the faster speed over the vast installed base of Cat3 unshielded twisted pair. Specifically, the company has released the 155 Fibre to Copper Converter and the 155 Physical Media Dependent Transceiver. The Converter is said to enable standard fibre optic ports to be connected to either category 3 or category 5 unshielded twisted pair copper wire, enabling users to use their existing wiring infrastructure for high-speed Asynchronous Transfer Mode connections to the desktop. The transceiver, which is pitched at OEM customers, is designed as a drop-in replacement for fibre transceivers. The company said it is fully ATM Forum-compliant and that its size and pinout match those of commonly used duplex fibre optic modules. Tut said it is now actively pursuing OEM and technology partnerships with both corporate end-users and networking providers. The converter is shipping now for $300, while the transceiver is shipping in engineering sample quantities. OEM pricing is also available.
