San Jose-based 3Com Corp announced its future hub architecture at the InterOp show. The new Linkbuilder Multi-Services Hub combines Ethernet FDDI and Token Ring in one box and has a hole for Asynchronous Transfer Mode-type services to be slotted in later. But the new hub sits uncertainly alongside the existing Linkbuilder 3GH hub. 3Com is […]
San Jose-based 3Com Corp announced its future hub architecture at the InterOp show. The new Linkbuilder Multi-Services Hub combines Ethernet FDDI and Token Ring in one box and has a hole for Asynchronous Transfer Mode-type services to be slotted in later. But the new hub sits uncertainly alongside the existing Linkbuilder 3GH hub. 3Com is continuing to target the 3GH at the highest level customers that just need FDDI and Ethernet and in particular the company’s ‘private Ethernet’ which dedicates the whole 10Mbps to a single station. A 3GH chassis, by itself costs about ?10,300. One equipped with a single Ethernet module, full management and a power supply costs around ?24,000; this would incorporate private Ethernet and an integral FDDI bridge. The new prices for the Multi-Services Hub hubs have yet to be announced, but Nigel Oakley, 3Com’s UK product marketing manager estimates that a similar configuration using the new hub would cost roughly ?6,000. While the 3GH uses an FDDI backplane, the Multi-Services Hub will offer a choice of three slot-independent buses. The first is a 30Mbps medium speed backplane that supports up to three directly connected Ethernets or 10 separate Ethernet workgroups. The second is a high speed backplane, supporting 17 155Mbps paths of any serial data type, including Token Ring and FDDI. The third is currently a hole – but by next year there should be a ‘superfast’ backplane available, with the possibility of Asynchronous Transfer Mode support although 3Com is not giving anything away on that score. The problem from 3Com’s point of view is that if the hub lives up to its promise and if the price is correct then the 3GH will look rather forlorn. Its only real advantage will be the integral FDDI backplane which will make it a good choice for those that want to bridge Ethernets to the optical network. Oakley says that one key to the 3GH’s survival are the high-powered modules, with integral bridging that slot into it. The modules for the Multi-Services Hub will have lower specs and be cheaper: not that there are any technical reasons why the Multi-Services Hub modules should be less advanced.
