Although hardly an objective bystander, Hauppauge, New York-based Standard Microsystems Corp vice-president Ash Dahod says that the addition of Kalpana Inc’s Ethernet workgroup switching systems to Cisco’s existing product line still leaves the latter without a high-end local network backbone switch to address the need for enterprise-wide intra-networking systems. Moreover, Dahod says that Kalpana’s EtherSwitch product line has substantial limitations with its cut-through technology and does not support critical added-value functions, such as virtual local networks, filters and statistics. He added that conversely, Cisco’s Catalyst workgroup switch does not offer a competitive workgroup system as it is workgroup featured and enterprise priced. In his final swipe at Cisco, Dahod said that the Kalpana acquisition raised a question as to the efficacy of Cisco’s earlier purchase of Crescendo Communications Inc in September 1993, another developer of switching systems. It appears as if Cisco is acknowledging that it still has some significant holes in its switching product line, he concluded.
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