100 Fast Ethernet cards. "It's going to take a long time for Fast Ethernet to achieve the 10Base-T volume," says Fred Chen, product manager at D-Link.
While network managers are taking steps to move to Fast Ethernet, they are also embracing switch-based topologies. Switch-based Fast Ethernet offers an attractive solution: It leverages the existing network infrastructure and usually complements legacy technologies. By dividing a network into smaller segments, it can provide a tremendous boost in overall network performance.
"As Fast Ethernet switches begin to break the $100-per-port price point, switched desktop connections start to become a reality," adds Ching Yang Wang, vice president of marketing and product planning at D-Link.
Fast Ethernet, which handles data at 100 Mbps, is half-duplex and shared. Thus, if
eight users are connected to a Fast Ethernet hub, they share 100-Mbps throughput. But with a switched network environment using eight-port Ethernet switches, each user has 10-Mbps throughput, gaining a total data rate of 80 Mbps.
In addition, "Support for unshielded twisted-pair [UTP] and data handling by bus-master mode are crucial to the successful deployment of pure 100-Mbps Fast Ethernet," says Alex Chiou, director of the communications product division at Realtek Semiconductor. "Otherwise," he adds, "it will likely suck out all your CPU power."
Cheng-Mau Chiou, marketing director at Accton, adds: "The increased use of Ethernet switches has deterred users from a total migration to 100-Mbps Fast Ethernet architecture."
Anticipating Future Needs
So why bother to migrate to Fast Ethernet? Surprisingly, the overwhelming network density that exists today is not what's driving the move. Many businesses are moving to Fast Ethernet not to meet current bandwidth needs, but rather in anti
cipation of future requirements. Managers are concerned about the escalating bandwidth requirements of videoconferencing, video-based training, and the expected surge in peer-to-peer traffic as corporate Intranets grow.
Although bandwidth requirements have been a motivating factor, cost and ensured compatibility with legacy systems are also major considerations. Network managers have clearly opted for solutions that not only dramatically boost the data rate of their networks but also preserve the existing Ethernet frame, network design, traffic-management scheme, and cabling infrastructure.
The rapid emergence of low-cost combination 10-/100-Mbps NICs, hubs, and switches deserves credit for gradually swinging the market toward 100-Mbps technology. A big advantage of dual-speed Fast Ethernet is that it connects at 10 times the speed of conventional Ethernet while maintaining compatibility with existing 10-Mbps networks.
Although the price gap between Ethernet and Fast Ethernet products has na
rrowed considerably, "it's simply too great a stretch to leap up to Fast Ethernet," according to Eric Kuo, an associate vice president at CNet Technology. Considering the overall investment required, especially to renew the cabling infrastructure from Category 3 to Category 5 UTP wiring, most will choose to stay with dual-speed switching devices.
Dual-Speed Fast Ethernet Cards
To ride the boom, network vendors in Taiwan have introduced a wealth of dual-speed Fast Ethernet cards and switches that support both 10 and 100 Mbps. D-Link recently announced the D-LinkOffice switch, a 10-port Ethernet switching device that supports both 10- and 100-Mbps workgroups. According to the company, the device combines switching and Fast Ethernet technologies to provide increased bandwidth for data-intensive network applications.
Meanwhile, Accton's Fast SwitcHub-8s eight-port switching hub offers the greatest versatility for network configurations. Each port of the Fast SwitcHub-8s can be operated in eit
her half- or full-duplex mode, achieving an aggregate bandwidth as high as 800 Mbps -- 80 times the bandwidth of a shared Ethernet network. With the Fast SwitcHub-8s, network administrators can upgrade workgroups to higher performance.
The PowerSwitch SH-1080 from CNet is a switching hub that has six 10Base-T ports and two 100Base-TX ports. The hub provides a separate network segment on each port, greatly reducing collisions and increasing network speed. The device also provides SNMP support.
Intel Lowers Prices
In an attempt to speed the adoption of the Fast Ethernet technology, Intel says it's seeking to remove price as a barrier to buying 10-/100-Mbps NICs. In February, the company dropped the prices of its 10-/100-Mbps LAN adapters from $140 to as low as $70 -- about the price level of 10-Mbps-only cards.
"With Intel's aggressive pricing action, it now makes sense for software developer to introduce applications specifically designed for Fast Ethernet networks," responds Rea
ltek's Chiou.
In addition to increased market share, another motivation behind Intel's move is to push up sales of its high-power CPUs and chip sets. Because bigger pipes need more processing power to fill them, the price cut should ultimately benefit Intel's primary microprocessor business, many network vendors say. Unwilling to see their market share drop, NIC leaders such as 3Com and Cisco are now forced to dramatically cut their prices to match Intel's.
Falling prices for Fast Ethernet are also evident in switches and hubs. Early this year, NIC leaders reduced prices for Fast Ethernet hubs to as little as $65 per port, putting them in head-to-head competition with 10-Mbps Ethernet switches, which cost $70 per port. In addition, some vendors claim to have broken the $100-per-port barrier for 10/100 Fast Ethernet switches.
Accton is expected to make a splash this month with the announcement of a new line of low-cost switch devices based on TI's ThunderSwitch single-chip controller. Moreov
er, Accton says that its new 24-port 10-Mbps switch, which should be available in the second half of this year, will lower the per-port price to less than $50 -- the lowest in the world, the company claims.
Gigabit Ethernet on the Desktop
As newcomers continue to flood the market with prestandard gigabit-speed Ethernet networking hardware, the Gigabit Ethernet technology is expected to be the next-generation pipe for connecting PCs and servers over a local network.
Targeted at backbone environments for switched Ethernet segments, Gigabit Ethernet is designed to move data across a network at 1000 Mbps using conventional Ethernet frames. As a logical upgrade path for bandwidth-hungry applications, such as imaging, animation, MPEG, Internet/intranet, videoconferencing, and CAD/CAM, the Gigabit Ethernet proposal builds on the established capabilities inherent in 100-Mbps Fast Ethernet and Fibre Channel technologies.
In an attempt to gain recognition with potential customers and possib
le suitors, start-up companies that focus on this emerging market have debuted various Gigabit Ethernet gear. But sales volumes thus far have been low.
One obstacle to the acceptance of this ultrahigh-speed technology is the lack of a finalized standard. But the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance, a group originally made up of 104 vendors developing open and interoperable Gigabit Ethernet solutions, has grown to hundreds of members. Plans are proceeding toward an official IEEE 803.2z standard in the first quarter of 1998.
This standard builds on traditional Ethernet functionality. Most important, it will allow backward compatibility with 10Base-T and 100Base-T technologies.
"The best thing about Gigabit-speed Ethernet is that network managers don't lose any of their installed equipment or their investment in training," says Chi-Houn Ma, design manager at Macronix International. Since the physical layer is borrowed from Fibre Channel, manufacturers are expected to develop products that offer simple Gi
gabit Ethernet full-duplex uplinks, implemented as PCI cards in servers or switches.
CAD/CAM designers and engineers are early adopters of this technology. But this situation will slowly change. "Eventually, Gigabit Ethernet will become a reality to compete on the desktop, but you're looking out three years," Ma notes. In the initial deployment process, Gigabit Ethernet will likely act as a speedy backbone solution, where it will function as the preferred link between switches that connect to lower-speed Ethernet components.
D-Link's Wang adds: "You're going to see ATM and Gigabit Ethernet in WANs; that's where the technology is going to be applied first."
Where to Find
Accton Technology Corp.
Hsinchu, Taiwan
Phone: +886 3 577 0270
Fax: +886 3 578 8102
Internet:
http://www.accton.com
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