Two months late, Hewlett-Packard Co is now shipping the 100VG-AnyLAN networking hubs, which it announced in April (CI No 2,400). According to Felipe Ortega, Hewlett-Packard’s product line manager for high-speed networking, the delay was not due to any technical difficulties but was because there was a delay in the quantity of chips that we needed for manufacturing. The company has realigned production to provide sufficient volumes and has already shipped 300 units to key customers, he added. The adaptor boards and 100VG-Bridge/SNMP module that were announced simultaneously, shipped on time in August. All of the products are now available according to Ortega, with the 15-port hub costing $3,750. The Bridge/SNMP module is priced at $1,500, and the AT and EISA adaptors are to cost $350 and $450 respectively. Hewlett-Packard is maintaining its ‘AnyLAN-only’ policy, and says it is unconcerned by the higher number of vendors supporting the rival 100Base-T Fast Ethernet standard; the Fast Ethernet Alliance has over 60 members, the 100VG-AnyLAN’s has 22.
