What if you prefer a dedicated 10-Mbps port for each network device rather than having them share a 10-Mbps switching port? The
FastSwitch 10/100 AG Workgroup Switch
from Grand Junction Networks (Fremont, CA) uses one MAC (media access control) address per port. It is a true workgroup switch, combining 24 dedicated 10-Mbps ports per workstation using only one MAC address per port, as well as a dedicated or shared 100-Mbps Fast Ethernet port. The FastSwitch lets you build networks of 10 to 200 users and eight servers across a 100-Mbps backbone.
The FastSwitch boasts an impressive low latency of only 29 microseconds and no packet loss at up to 100 percent network usage for any frame size within the legal Ethernet network transmission rate, even with short frame leng
ths and broadcast traffic. Its performance results in the applications tests were also impressive. We would have compared it to the other switches but excluded it because it has only one MAC address per port (the 48-bit number unique to each LAN card). Unfortunately for the FastSwitch, most of our throughput tests use five MAC addresses per port for crisscross traffic.
The FastSwitch has 30 ports, including:
-- 24 10-Mbps Switched Personal Ethernet ports that each connect to a
single workstation via an RJ-45 connector
-- a 100-Mbps Switched Fast Ethernet port that connects to a single
server, workstation, another FastSwitch, or other 100Base-X
compatible devices via an RJ-45 connector
-- four 100-Mbps Shared Fast Ethernet ports that connect to servers,
workstations, another FastSwitch, or other 100Base-X compatible
devices via RJ-45 connectors (as a shared switch, it can be split
into four 2.5-Mbps segments)
-- a 10-Mbps Switched General Ethernet port that can b
e used for
uplinking to another FastSwitch 10/100 AG; connect to a multiaddress
device or network via an RJ-45, AUI (attachment unit interface), or
BNC connector, or to a twenty-fifth workstation for use as a Personal
Ethernet port
The FastSwitch's front panel has a vast array of status LEDs. Each Shared Fast Ethernet port has three status LEDs: link integrity, receive, and disabled. There are also two group-related LEDs for collision and activity. At $8950, the FastSwitch's price works out to a comfortable $298 per port, extremely competitive with the price of any switch we tested.
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Scaling Up with One MAC Address
