Northern Telecom Europe Ltd has enhanced the ability of its Magellan DPN-100 data networking switch to coexist in an IBM Corp Token Ring environment. A new Intelligent Source Routing Bridge creates a virtual Token Ring backbone, enabling remote workstations to communicate on a peer-to-peer basis as if they were on the same physical Token Ring. The company claims the Bridge enables a data frame to cross a DPN-100 network in a single hop – regardless of the number of nodes traversed – as opposed to traditional Token Ring, which imposes a limit of seven hops for any single route. In addition, broadcasts will be limited to one frame per link, virtually eliminating broadcast storms caused by source routing. Underpinning these enhancements is the Northern Telecom-patented architecture of the DPN-100 Intelligent Source Routing Bridge, which partitions the network into multiple virtual rings. Virtual circuits between two Token Ring local networks using the DPN-100 Bridge services dynamically route around a failed channel with no loss of the session, and the Bridge service has redundant architecture so a single point of failure does not disrupt services. The Bridge service can be installed on any DPN-100 module with a Token Ring Peripheral Interface board and is available now. Prices go from $8,000 to $100,000.
