Redwood City, California-based Network Equipment Technologies Inc has announced a packet switch, the PX-3 module, and related FRX Release 2.03 software, for higher capacity T1/E1 Frame Relay capabilities and lower cost-per-port Frame Relay configurations. According to the company, the PX-3 module will form an integral part of its FrameXpress Frame Relay switches and its IDNX multiservice backbone network product families. The PX-3 is designed to support access speeds ranging from 9.6Kbps up to T1/E1 speeds, and offer a PCMCIA card option to enable customers to store large configuration databases – up to 40Mb – and reduce unnecessary traffic by restoring the information locally, says Network Equipment. The new FRX 2.03 Frame Relay software will support up to eight logical serial wide area network ports on the PX-3 front card, and up to 24 channelised T1, or 32 channelised E1, connections on the T1/E1 back card, it says. A future software release increasing the number of wide area network ports to 16 without any hardware revisions is also promised. The PX-3 module, which includes a PX-3 front card and a T1/E1 back card, and FRX Release 2.03 software will be available at the end of the year, for around $530 per port in a 40-port configuration, says the company. Separately, Network Equipment has also revealed a strategic partnership with Westford, Massachusetts-based Cascade Communications Corp for joint marketing and distribution of Cascade’s B-STDX and STDX Frame Relay switches with Network Equipment’s Frame-Xpress and IDNX on a global basis.
