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Roundup
June  2001

 

Enterprise Switching Platforms

"Data sells, but Voice pays the bills." That darn sentence is on so many peoples lips these days. While many are quick to brush it off, there is one very important point to the matter-both are essential parts to any communications system being implemented today, tomorrow, or next year. Are you looking just to extend your corporate Ethernet, or are you getting prepared for a telecommunications revolution over IP?

Enterprises cannot ignore the complex issues surrounding the implementation of a new communications platform. Included in this roundup is a smattering of enterprise switching platforms that will get you started down the road towards the Next Generation and the services and cost-reducing features it promises. Please use this roundup as the starting point to a holistic voice and data solution for your company.

Mike von Wahlde

Enterprise Switching Platforms

EdgeLinkT5R LeXSS WiseWan NAPS/Broadband
Catalyst 6000 Family MD110 ipVerse ControlSwitch
NEAX 2400 IPX FastIron II LAN Switches MediaXpress Processor
Enterprise Gigabit Ethernet Switch Vpacket 6100 Series Clarent OpenAccess Softswitch
BayStack 70 IA 1000 OmniPCX 4400
LightReef Shoreline3 System Summit48
Call Control Server OfficeConnect Dual Speed Hub 8 IQ8000

EdgeLinkT5R
Telco Systems
63 Nahatan St.
Norwood, MA 02062
781-551-0300
www.telco.com
The EdgeLinkT5R Gigabit Ethernet Layer 3 Routing switch is the newest member of the T Series enterprise product family. It supports up to 64 Fast Ethernet ports and is equipped with BATM's exclusive Symmetric Bandwidth Control and the ability to support a variety of media interfaces, including 10/100 Mbps and Gigabit Ethernet on copper or fiber, and 10 Mbps symmetrical VDSL.

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Catalyst 6000 Family
Cisco Systems
170 West Tasman Dr.
San Jose, CA 95143-1706
408-526-4000
The Catalyst 6000 family (Catalyst 6500 and Catalyst 6000 series) is designed to address the increased requirements for gigabit scalability, high-availability, and multilayer switching in backbone/distribution and server-aggregation environments. Now offered with advanced IP telephony features, the Catalyst 6000 family offers unparalleled multiservice capabilities to support Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video, and Integrated Data) convergence applications.

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NEAX 2400 IPX
NEC America Inc., Corporate Networks Group
6555 N. State Hwy. 161
Irving, TX 75039-2402
214-262-2000
NEC's NEAX 2400 Internet Protocol eXchange (IPX) is designed for businesses that are seeking to deploy IP telephony without compromising the functionality offered by existing PBX technology. The NEAX 2400 IPX, which supports IP on both the trunk and station side, uses traditional switching methodologies to provide the features offered by previous generations of NEAX 2400 products. It offers customers a simple, clear, and affordable migration path to IP telephony.

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Enterprise Gigabit Ethernet Switch
Cygnet Technologies
750 State Highway 121 Bypass, Ste. 150
Lewisville, TX 75067
972-242-0372
Cygnet Technologies' eight-port Enterprise Gigabit Ethernet switch is designed to work with existing copper wire infrastructure to enable high-speed Internet access to end-users. Service providers and commercial enterprises can implement the Enterprise switch in a number of applications, including as an aggregation point because it offers both Layer 2 and Layer 3 functionality. It provides full auto-negotiation for 10 megabits, 100 megabits, or one gigabit.

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BayStack 70
Nortel Networks
Dept 1019, One Brunswick Sqr. , Atrium, Ste. 100
Saint John, NB E2L 4V1 CANADA
800-466-7835
Ideal for small networks needing dedicated bandwidth, BayStack 70 Switches provide affordable, reliable, and fast connectivity with support for eight, 16, or 24 10/100 auto sensing ports. Perfect for cost-conscious customers who don't need complicated management features, but who demand high-speed performance and scalability to support future needs, the BayStack 70 Switches boost the performance of desktops by providing dedicated bandwidth directly to users and high utilization servers.

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LightReef
Zuma Networks
8403 Fallbrook Ave.
West Hills, CA 91304
818-593-5333
LightReef is an open-architecture, modular hardware platform that couples layer 2/3/4 wire-speed switch-routing functionality with wire-speed differentiated IP network services. Stonesoft's StoneGate Firewall and VPN software is a fully scalable enterprise-level security solution that will be ported into the modular Linux application processors within the LightReef platform using Zuma's Zumix Application Programming Interface (API). The resulting LightReef/Stonegate security platform effectively provides all the benefits of scalable clustering technology, yet eliminates the continuous addition of server nodes, configuration, and setup.

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Call Control Server
NetCentrex
2115 O'Nel Dr., Ste. 101
San Jose, CA 95131
408-521-7400
Designed as a scalable platform to meet the requirements of large and small networks, test networks, and development labs, the Call Control Server utilizes Microsoft Windows NT or Linux operating systems. The Application Server leverages the Windows NT operating system and commonly known scripting languages to enable quick development and deployment of new applications. The Call Control Server is available utilizing the Linux operating system on a CPU board in the CompactPCI platform or in a 1U chassis with either the Linux operating system or Microsoft NT operating system. The Application Server utilizes the Windows NT operating system on a 1U chassis or on a CPU module in the CompactPCI chassis. Each CompactPCI chassis supports both CCS CPU modules (with Linux OS) and Application Server CPU modules (with Windows NT) in a single chassis or multiple chassis chained together appearing as a single system.

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LeXSS
CopperCom
2860 De La Cruz Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95050
408-987-8500
The CopperCom LeXSS is comprised of three platforms: 1) a switching and media conversion platform; 2) a softswitch platform; 3) and a provisioning and management platform. The switching platform provides line side interfaces to subscribers via circuit and packet access networks. The softswitch controls the switch platform using the Megaco/H.248 standard. It provides call handling, line and trunk side features, as well as a rich feature creation environment. The LeXSS appears to the network as a single system, including the switch, softswitch, and remote IADs, simplifying the provisioning and management of the system. Interoperability with existing OSSs is supported through northbound interfaces, including Corba, SNMP, and XML.

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MD110
Ericsson Enterprise
1555 Adams Dr.
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650-324-6100
The MD110 transforms the traditional PBX into a communication server by way of an integrated Ethernet/IP interface that connects the system directly to the local- or wide-area network. The MD110 provides enterprises with the ability to offer advanced mobility functions to all users, resulting in higher service levels and lower operational costs. It retains its successful modular and decentralized architecture, and can easily be adapted to meet the changing needs of organizations.

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FastIron II LAN Switches
Foundry Networks, Inc.
2100 Gold St.
P.O. Box 649100
San Jose, CA 95164-9100
888-TURBOLAN
The FastIron II product family, including the four-slot FastIron II chassis, the 8-slot FastIron II Plus chassis, and the 15-slot FastIron III chassis, delivers a new level of high-performance capabilities for enterprise and service provider networks. For the high-end data center computing needs, the FastIron II family offers the FastIron-II GC and the FastIron-II Plus GC to ensure high-speed Gigabit Ethernet Copper connections for high-end server clustering. Based on Foundry's unique IronCore ASIC architecture, FastIron II delivers hardware-based distributed switching and low-price, high performance, and high-density 10/100/1000 Mbps connectivity. Like the BigIron product family, the FastIron-II product family is 10-Gigabit ready

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Vpacket 6100 Series
Vpacket Communications, Inc.
1390 McCarthy Blvd.
Milpitas, CA 95035
408-571-7900
The Vpacket 6100 Series is the industry's first truly business class voice/data router designed for high volume deployments in converged voice/data over IP network applications. The 6100 Series works in concert with the Vpacket Network Management System and third-party softswitches and media gateways to provide a complete solution for deploying converged voice/data services and IP Centrex features to small- and mid-size businesses.

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IA 1000
Riverstone Networks
5200 Great America Pkwy.
Santa Clara, CA 95054
408-878-6500
Designed for high-performance hosting environments, Riverstone Networks' IA 1100 and IA 1200 Web switches provide line rate device load balancing, traffic load balancing, and traffic policing. The IA family ensures that visitors to an Internet site can complete their transactions seamlessly, whether downloading information, buying products, or upgrading account status. The Riverstone Networks IA family of Web switches offers service providers a unique combination of performance, control, security, and reliability.

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Shoreline3 System
Shoreline Communications, Inc.
960 Stewart Dr.
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
408-331-3300
The Shoreline3 system is a completely distributed, modular voice communication solution with no single point of failure that is layered on top of your IP network. At the heart of the system is the standards-based DIVA software switching architecture, which uniquely distributes call control intelligence to voice switches connected anywhere on the IP network. In addition, the DIVA architecture distributes voice applications -- including voice mail and automated attendant-to servers across locations, rather than centralizing applications at the network core.

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OfficeConnect Dual Speed Hub 8
3Com
5400 Bayfront Plz.
Santa Clara, CA 95052
408-326-5000
This reliable plug-and-play hub offers a smooth way to migrate to high performance yet maintain flexibility by connecting both Ethernet and Fast Ethernet PCs or network devices. Eight autosensing 10/100 Mbps ports match the speed of an attached device to optimize performance. A built-in switch seamlessly connects users.

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WiseWan NAPS/Broadband
NetReality Inc.
2350 Mission College Blvd., Ste. 900
Santa Clara, CA 95054
408-988-8100
NetReality, Inc., a leader in network application priority switching, announced the newest member of its WiseWan network application priority switch (NAPS) product line: WiseWan NAPS/Broadband. The tool enables service providers to ensure QoS for enterprises eager to take advantage of IP managed services via broadband access. In addition to the QoS capabilities, WiseWan NAPS/Broadband enables service providers to craft and stand behind Service Level Agreements.

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ipVerse ControlSwitch
ipVerse, Inc.
926 Rock Ave.
San Jose, CA 95131
408-952-5400
The ipVerse ControlSwitch is a multi-protocol call control system, that supports SS7, MGCP, H.323, IPDC, SIP, and ISDN-PRI signaling systems, allowing transparent service exchange within or between service provider networks. In a world of rapidly evolving hardware standards, the ControlSwitch eliminates forklift upgrades and creates freedom of choice; users can grow their networks with equipment from various best-of-breed vendors while supporting their investments in existing infrastructure. Its simple Web-based tools and XML scripts enable service providers and third-party developers to quickly create, deploy, and customize new voice and data services, including applications for powerful personal call management.

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MediaXpress Processor
empowerTel Networks
475 Sycamore Dr.
Milpitas, CA 95035
408-519.7100
The MediaXpress Processor achieves low-latency media conversion using several service-optimized hardware accelerated engines, embedded processors, and a high-speed lookup engine. MediaFlow software provides a robust API that is designed to take advantage of the MediaXpress Processor's features including four embedded processors, TDM switching, IP, and UDP packet filtering and lookup, fast packet classification, and jitter buffer management to provide a high density of media streams required for demanding IP and Media switching applications. This programmable system-on-a-chip can be adapted for different applications using empowerTel's MediaFlow software and customer developed applications.

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Clarent OpenAccess Softswitch
Clarent Corporation
700 Chesapeake Dr.
Redwood City, CA 94063
650-306-7511
A combination of the Clarent Call Manager and the Clarent Command Center, Clarent's softswitch provides a highly scalable, standards-based service and application platform with the essential elements of a traditional Class 5 telecommunications switch. The softswitch also includes a comprehensive set of tools to enable the development of next-generation service applications by third parties. The Clarent softswitch authenticates subscribers, initiates call set-up and tear down, establishes call rates for billing, and provides call routing -- all essential functionalities for any voice network. This softswitch is ready for deployment of live service today.

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OmniPCX 4400
Alcatel
26801 W. Agoura Rd.
Calabasas, CA 91301
800-995-2612
This IP-based enterprise voice networking system features scalability for 50 to 50,000 users, and comes with the company's Reflexes telephone
handsets. Features of the system include quality
of service (QoS) management, unified messaging capability, one-number mobility, and integrated voice and data network management. Based on a client/server UNIX architecture, the system offers an open architecture for easy integration with
application technologies and other networking
infrastructures. The system is part of the OmniSolutions for Enterprise initiative, which also features the OmniSwitch, OmniStack, and OmniCore data networking families.

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Summit48
Extreme Networks
3585 Monroe St.
Santa Clara, CA 95051-1450
408-579-2800
With 48 switched 10/100 Mbps auto-negotiating Ethernet ports and two full-duplex GBIC-based 1000BASE-SX, LX or LX-70 Gigabit Ethernet ports, Summit48 has a 17.5 Gbps non-blocking switch fabric and a forwarding rate of 10.1 million packets per second. Summit48 comes with wire-speed Layer 2 and wire-speed basic Layer 3 switching using static routing or RIP V1/V2 routing protocols. For easy scalability, the Summit48 upgrades to full Layer 3 switching with a simple upgrade key. The Layer 3 switching includes support for protocols such as OSPF, DVMRP, PIM, and IPX routing of multiple encapsulation types.

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IQ8000
Quarry Technologies, Inc.
8 New England Executive Park
Burlington, MA 01803
781-505-8300
A carrier-class, hardware-based router at its heart, the iQ8000 switch delivers high-touch optical speed processing of IP traffic, in the a high-performance, scalable, manageable, and fault-tolerant platform. The iQ8000 IP Service Edge Switch, together with the iQSMS Service Management Suite, allow network service providers to minimize the deployment of CPE by offering advanced IP services on-demand from centralized locations. This concept, known as "Virtual CPE," presents tremendous advantages in increased service flexibility, improved time-to-market, and reduced support costs.

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