Olicom A/S, Copenhagen has announced the remote Multiport Bridge designed to connect branch offices to central Token Ring networks. The product is a 19 rack-mountable source routing bridge, which the company says can connect up to four E1/T1 wide area network-linked remote bridges. It is said to support leased lines, with speeds ranging from 9.6Kbps to 2.048Mbps, on all of its four wide area network links, and to use the company’s PowerMach drivers to optimise the Media Access Control code. Data compression is also provided, for which the company claims a ratio of 4:1. It is SNMP-manageable, and it is claimed to support a wide range of filter programs for security and performance purposes. Olicom says that it can either be used with its own Remote Bridges, or with Token Ring bridges from other manufacturers, and adds that, used with its own Remote bridges, it can provide support for up to four branch offices and up to 40 workstations. Available immediately, the product is to have a list price of $6,500.
