Marlborough, Massachusetts-based CrossComm Corp has laid another plank in its ClearPath strategy to migrate hub and router-based networks to Asynchronous Transfer Mode environments with the launch of a Asynchronous Transfer workgroup switch that costs less than $1,000 per port. The 12-port XLX ATM Workgroup Switch delivers a 5Gbps switching capacity and is based on a non-blocking architecture that the company says offers both Virtual Path and Virtual Connection switching, supporting 14,000 such connections. In addition, multicast and broadcast capabilities are said to be built-in, providing queues for each port, to enable simultaneous handling of four priority levels of traffic. The company also claims that the centralised port buffering and queuing featured on the switch provides more efficient use of buffer memory for congestion management, and improves buffer integrity. CrossComm said the switch is intended for use as a front end to very large Asynchronous Mode backbone switches, and can also be used as a mini backbone, connecting workgroups to other XLX Workgroup Switches or to edge routers and switches. The XLX-1200 ATM Switch modules, featuring 12 ports, OC3 and multimode, cost $11,950 and will be available within the next two months.
