Given that its slogan is ``The network is the computer,'' it's not surprising that Sun Microsystems Computer Company (Mountain View, CA) was the first to ship a Fast Ethernet NIC (network interface card). The SunFastEthernet Adapter is an SBus product compatible with the current draft of the 100Base-TX standard.
In addition to the RJ-45 UTP connector, the adapter also supports an MII connection, although Sun does not make an external transceiver. Sun is responsible for the CMOS implementation of the MAC (media access control), while its PHY (physical) layer protocol, like Intel's, is licensed from Synoptics. The MAC layer interface is handled by a chip called the Quad Ethernet Controller. Data between the SBus and controller is buffered by 64 KB of SRAM (static RAM). Like nearly every other Fast Ethernet product, the Sun
FastEthernet Adapter supports auto-sensing at either 10 or 100 Mbps.
The SunFastEthernet Adapter lists for $795, which makes it one of the more expensive Fast Ethernet NICs, though not particularly so for a SparcStation NIC. The card requires a SPARC/Solaris platform with a free SBus slot and Solaris 2.3 or higher. Sun's network services and protocols will work without modification.
Another Synoptics licensee is Intel (Santa Clara, CA). Its EtherExpress Pro/100 LAN Adapter is available in two models, one for the PCI bus and one for the EISA bus. Both models list for $499--$150 more than Intel's 10Base-T EISA NICs.
John Middleton, a product manager for Intel's networking products division, says that the company's MAC allows for more efficient use of the host CPU. He claims that the PCI card exhibits a 10 percent to 15 percent performance advantage over the company's EISA version, but CPU utilization is lower than competitive products for both overall. ``For instance, using the Pro/100 EISA
, with throughput at about 70 Mbps, CPU utilization is about 45 percent [with a 66-MHz P5-60 server and 33-MHz 486 PC],'' he claims. ``As bandwidth constraints are pushed back inside the box, this is going to be significant.''
The EtherExpress Pro/100 LAN Adapters both use the same set of drivers, and they support the DMI (Desktop Management Interface) specification of the DTMF (Desktop Management Task Force). Information about an adapter's address, IRQ (interrupt request), packets, drivers, and more can be viewed from within a DMI-compliant application and used as a management tool for controlling the node level, rather than at the hub alone.
Besides licensing its CMOS designs to NIC vendors, Synoptics (Santa Clara, CA) sells switching hubs and external transceivers to put everything together. The LattisSwitch System 28000 is a family of switching hubs, available in four versions. Model 28014 ($8995) is an eight-port switch for 10Base-FL multimode fiber connections. The 28104 ($14,950) has the
same basic design, except that it supports eight 100-Mbps ports, also over fiber. Model 28015 ($8995) is a 16-port 10Base-T switch; 28115 ($16,950) is a 16-port 10/100 100Base-TX model.
Each of these switches has two high-speed expansion ports for supporting full-duplex connections to a server, repeater, or another switch. The connection is made through an MII connector and appropriate external transceiver, either fiber or UTP. In addition, all expansion and attachment ports on these switches can be configured for full-duplex operation. The switching fabric of the LattisSwitch family can handle 2 Gbps, so you shouldn't encounter frame overruns or delays at any port.
All models are also compatible with the latest release of Optivity, Synoptics' network management software, which can accommodate both shared and switched networks. Management connection is handled via an out-of-band RS-232 port.
With its Fast Ethernet PowerPipes client/server switch, NetWorth (Irving, TX) takes a similar appr
oach to that used in Synoptics' model 28015. Scheduled for release toward the end of this year, the Fast Ethernet version of PowerPipes (an FDDI [Fiber Distributed Data Interface] model is already available) provides 12 10Base-T UTP connections that switch to a single Fast Ethernet connection.
NetWorth sees ``pockets'' within the Ethernet world that are severely bandwidth restricted, and the PowerPipes hub is designed to relieve at least one of them, the server-switch connection. The company does this partly by making the server and the switch more intelligent. Fairness algorithms in servers make them serve nodes in an equal fashion. If the individual segments served by a switch are not balanced, which is frequently the case, switch ports with more dependent nodes become flooded. NetWorth uses server-resident software and switch-resident firmware to help the pair ``learn'' more appropriate flow control.
Because of the dearth of applications requiring dedicated 100-Mbps connections to the desktop
, NetWorth is betting that its switch will be a cost-effective way to deliver sufficient bandwidth to the end user for some time.
Grand Junction Networks (Fremont, CA) enjoys the distinction of having introduced what became the Fast Ethernet standard. Grand Junction's current family of products includes a card, the FastNIC 100 EISA, and two switch products, the FastSwitch 10/100 and the FastSwitch 10/100 AG (Aggregator). The card and the switches are compatible with the 100Base-TX standard, as well as with products from Intel, Synoptics, and DEC. The switches began shipping in May, while the FastNIC went to production in June.
In addition, the FastNIC 100 EISA is a 10/100 auto-sensing card designed for use with current Ethernet installations and software. This bus-mastering NIC uses a custom Grand Junction ASIC (application-specific IC) and has a 1-Mb packet buffer, the largest of any of the current crop of products. Priced at $499, its primary distinguishing feature is that it is a part of a fa
mily of products from the first vendor to offer one-stop Fast Ethernet shopping.
Although it has yet to introduce any Fast Ethernet products, 3Com (Santa Clara, CA) expects to offer a complete line of products. According to Paul Sherer, director of technology development, the company's line will include everything from NICs to port modules for the firm's enterprise-switch products. ``The deployment we're seeing now is only the leading edge of the marketplace,'' he states. ``3Com is looking to provide an easy and inexpensive migration path from a shared 10-Mbps technology to switched 10-Mbps to shared 100-Mbps to switched 100-Mbps.''
3Com plans to ship its first product, 10/100 cards for PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) and EISA, in November. These cards will leverage the company's Etherlink III technology, which is used on the best-selling card in the world. Like others in this market, the firm's NICs will be capable of handling full-duplex operation. Perhaps the best feature of the 3Com
cards, though, is their price, which Sherer says will be less than $400. While cards will appear on the market first, 3Com will also offer repeaters and hub products at the workgroup and enterprise level.
Another vendor, Standard Microsystems (Irvine, CA), is also slated to begin shipping Fast Ethernet products in November. SMC's first product, an as yet unnamed 100Base-TX EISA card, will have a MAC-layer CMOS based on FEAST (Fast Ethernet Advanced Silicon Technology) developed by SMC Components Division (Hauppauge, NY). Its PHY layer will be developed by the Irvine group. The company also expects to be shipping a PCI card in the first quarter of 1995, and its Enterprise Networks Business Units (Andover, MA) will announce other products in the same approximate time frame. SMC expects its NIC to sell for under $500.
Perhaps the only vendor, at least for right now, that has plans to introduce an ISA NIC for Fast Ethernet is National Semiconductor (Santa Clara, CA). Its ISA card will be bus-limited
but reportedly will still provide twice the performance of other ISA NICs at a similar cost. FIFO (first-in/first-out) buffering will handle bus latency. This ISA product positions the company in the client market, at the desktop rather than the server. Lee Melatti, National's product manager for Fast Ethernet says, ``Even if you are using [the company's NIC] in a 10-Mbps environment, you will be able to get 100-Mbps upgrade capability and DMTF standards, at a reasonable cost.'' National expects its ISA card to ship in December.
To ensure that all Fast Ethernet products work together in a seamless fashion, and that the auto-sensing products work in 10-Mbps environments, interoperability test labs are being set up on both coasts. One is located at the University of New Hampshire (Durham), while the West Coast lab is at the Technology Resource Interoperability Lab, in Santa Clara, California.
Photograph: Sun Microsystems' SunFastEthernet Adapter
Photograph: Intel's Ether
Express Pro/100
Photograph: Synoptics Communications' Lattisswitch 28000
Photograph: FastNIC 100 EISA, FastSwitch 10/100, and FastSwitch 10/100 AG
First Out with Fast Ethernet
