Chipcom Corp, Southborough, Massachusetts is extending the switching capabilities of its ONline family of intelligent switching hubs with the introduction of a module it claims can be configured as a high-speed Ethernet switch, a high-performance bridge or a multi-protocol router. Developed in collaboration with Retix Inc, Santa Monica, the ONline Ethernet Interconnect Module is supplied as a switch but can be upgraded to a bridge or router via additional software; no extra hardware is necessary. Based on Intel Corp’s 80960 RISC chip, it is a two-slot module available for Chipcom’s 17-slot or six-slot ONline System Concentrators, and provides six ports for internetworking. It has a forwarding rate of over 42,000 packets per second, says the company, and supports an effective 90,000 packets per second filtering rate. All the modules should be out by the end of the year. No prices.
