Another Gigabit Ethernet startup, this time, Prominet Corp, has unveiled its initial product – the P550 Cajun Switch – an Ethernet switch for the campus backbone. The P550 Switch has 41.6Gbps of total backplane capacity, and 20.8Gbps switching throughput capacity. The 7-Slot P550 Cajun Switch is the first member of Prominet’s planned family of Cajun Switch products (CI No 3,093). Future members of the family will include a gigabit- scaled multilayer switch and a smaller feeder switch optimized for 10/100 Ethernet workgroups with gigabit-per-second uplinks, says the company. Typical systems will range in price from $15,000 to $40,000, depending on configuration. On a per-port basis, switched Gigabit Ethernet ports will be available for around $2,500 per port, and switched 10/100Mbps Ethernet ports for around $350 per port, with volume shipments due in the fourth quarter.
