SynOptics Communications Inc has announced the formation of an independent Token Ring Interoperability Lab, claimed to be the industry’s first, with more than six vendors signing up as founding members. These include Accton Technology Corp, Digital Communications Associates Inc, IBM Corp, Madge Networks Inc, Olicom A/S and Texas Instruments. The lab, scheduled to be operational this quarter, is to be available to all Token Ring product vendors, providing a test environment independent of the Token Ring technology being used. The initial focus is to be on interoperability at the physical layer on 16Mbps Token Ring over unshielded twisted pair cabling. To this end, a test suite is being developed by lab members in keeping with the emerging 802.5 unshielded twisted pair standards. The new laboratory is to be situated at SynOptics’ Santa Clara, California headquarters.
