Minneapolis, Minnesota-based network equipment vendor Transition Networks Inc, has just released a tool which it claims will ease the migration from old-style Ethernet to Fast Ethernet-based networking environmnents. The Pocket Switch is a two-port, Ethernet/Fast Ethernet bridge that provides data rate conversion across the environments and segments traffic to reduce congestion. The company says it can be used to integrate 10 Mbps only devices such as print servers and routers into the Fast Ethernet Network. The Pocket Switch is available in two versions: one with unshielded twisted pair UTP ports to connect to Ethernet or Fast Ethernet-compliant devices, priced at $700, and the other has a 100BaseFX Fast Ethernet port along with an Ethernet connection on the other port, enabling the integration of fiber and UTP environments, and is priced at $1,000. Both will be shipping in June. Apart from the Pocket switch, Transition Networks, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ENStar Inc, also develops hubs, repeaters, media converters and transceivers, aimed at workgroup environments of up to 500 nodes, as well as communications equipment for most cabling environments. It launched its first Ethernet 100BaseTX/100BaseFX media converter around 18 months ago (CI No 3,022) and is planning the release of an FDDI to Ethernet adapter by Autumn of this year.
