Santa Clara, California-based 3Com Corp has launched a suite of products for Token Ring-based communications environments. The flagship announcement is the LinkSwitch 2000 TR stackable switch. Using its Token Ring Switching Engine ASIC, the LinkSwitch 2000 TR switch offers switching capabilities exceeding 400,000 packets per second, selectable store-and-forward and adaptive cut-through modes, Source Route, Transparent, and Source Route and Transparent traffic support, virtual local network management, Priority Control, and Flow Control. The LinkSwitch 2000 TR also includes a High Speed Cascade Interface which enables scalable bandwidth aggregation, said 3Com. It ships in March for $8,000. Also announced were four new NETBuilder Remote Office Token Ring routers. The 323 (for SNA Boundary Routing) combines 3Com’s Boundary Routing Systems Architecture with local termination of SNA and NetBIOS connections, while the 327 provides multiprotocol routing and enables customers to field upgrade their 323’s to multi-protocol functionality and, in an SNA Boundary Routing environment, can be used as a central site node to the 323. The NBRO 327 offers support for TCP/IP, IPX, XNS, AppleTalk, DECnet, Vines and OSI, as well as support for DLSw Data Link Switching and Systems Network Architecture over Frame Relay (RFC 1490), and both offer internal Synchronous Data Link Control conversion. The 323 lists for $3,000 and the 327 for $4,000; both products are shipping now. Next up are the 523 and 527 Token Ring-based ISDN routers.
Central Site Router
The 523 (for Systems Network Architecture Boundary Routing) is designed to work with a central site router to support Token Ring connections in a Boundary Routing environment and offers a standard ISDN Basic Rate Interface connection for a dial back-up option. The 527 offers the same multi-protocol support as the 327, and also maintains an ISDN Basic Rate Interface connection for dial back-up links. Both feature an integrated terminal adaptor. They will ship in March, the 523 for $3,300 and the 527 for $4,300. Also unveiled were enhanced LinkBuilder FMS TR 12 and LinkBuilder FMS TR 24 stackable hubs, which now offer switch-ready functionality via a roving RMON remote monitoring feature. Both are out now, for $1,900 and $2,500 respectively. Finally, the company has added to its adaptor line with the TokenLink Velocity PCI 16/4 adaptor and TokenLink III AT adaptor for 16-bit Token Ring communications for AT or EISA bus types. Velocity pricing starts at $375 per board in 10-packs or $425 for single board shipments, while the TokenLink III AT adaptor lists for $240 per board in 60-packs or $275 for single boards. Both will be available next month.
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