Tel Aviv, Israel-based RAD Data Communications Ltd has announced its modular FDDI hub, the FDX-100, and an Ethernet-to-FDDI translation bridge, the FEB-4. According to the company, the FDX-100 hub can operate in ring, tree or ring-of-trees topologies. It is said to support 100Mbps transmission in FDDI rings with redundancy, or up to 200Mbps when the primary and secondary rings are used simultaneously. In terms of FDDI implementation, RAD says that the product offers PHY access modules with interfaces for single-mode and multi-mode fibre, shielded twisted pair and unshielded twisted pair media. A single 3U-high hub can accommodate up to five plug-in modules, says the company. The FEB-4 multiport bridge is said to connect up to four Ethernet segments to an FDDI backbone, supporting up to 1,000 Ethernet connections. According to the company, it can be configured as a dual-attached or single-attached FDDI station over 10Base-T or AUI media. By featuring a RISC-based architecture, RAD claims the offering can forward nearly 60,000 frames per second. The bridge is available as a standalone unit or as an integrated bridge for the FDX-100. Both are available now, but the company doesn’t like to publicise prices.
