Sunnyvale, California-based Ethernet switching pioneer Kalpana Inc has announced two products that it claims eliminate Ethernet local network bottlenecks without recourse to FDDI or Asynchronous Transfer Mode technologies. The first, SwitchBalance, is a NetWare Loadable Module, which apparently enables network traffic between a NetWare server and a Kalpana 15-port EtherSwitch EPS-1500 to be distributed evenly across multiple half-duplex or full-duplex network interface controllers. SwitchBalance resides in the server and is said to support any Ethernet network interface controller that operates under NetWare 3.11, 3.12 or 4.01. It lists for $700 and will be available from next quarter. According to Kalpana, the other offering, EtherChannel, increases overall local network throughput by providing multiple 10Mbps or 20Mbps connections between two Kalpana 15-port EtherSwitches. EtherChannel is said to support 10Base-T, 10Base-2 and 10Base-FL media, and will be available at no cost on new EtherSwitch EPS-1500 products. Firmware upgrades for existing Kalpana EPS-1500 chassis will be available for $100. Availability is from this month. The company claims that each product is capable of boosting aggregate switched throughput between nodes from 10Mbps to over 60Mbps.
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