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 F E A T U R E 
ATM technology, while no longer king of the hill, still found its way into the test lab in 1999. This year, IBM Corp. ousted Fore Systems (now part of Marconi) as the reigning king of LAN ATM switching. In fact, IBM's product lineup was so solid that Cisco noticed, and swept up the entire IBM LAN switching division in the process. Go figure. Regardless of ownership, IBM's 8265 Nways ATM Switch and accompanying 8210 Nways Multiprotocol Switched Services (MSS) Server pave the way for smooth, state-of-the-art ATM deployments. The key to IBM's success is the 8210 MSS Server, which delivers all the services necessary to drive a corporate-class ATM solution. When combined with IBM's 8265 hardware, you get an unbeatable solution for LANE- and MPOA-based networks. And in tandem with IBM's Layer 3 edge switching and high-performance core ATM switches, the IBM ATM solution is one of the best the market can deliver.
-- Joel Conover
Fixed-configuration switches are the bread and butter of numerous LAN solutions. While many of these products are commodity items, filling the basic need for Layer 2 connectivity, some stand out from the crowd. Near the end of 1998, Extreme Networks started putting pressure on the competition with the announcement of a 48-port fixed-configuration Layer 3 switch with two fault-tolerant Gigabit Ethernet uplinks. In 1999, the company refined that switch, adding extensive QoS (Quality of Service) elements and new routing features. The Summit48 earned our coveted Product of the Year title last year for reaching new heights in LAN switching with regard to price, performance and value. This year, Extreme focused on refining the Summit family of switches, adding policy management, user awareness and additional routing functionality. The Summit48 remains our switch of choice for enterprise-class Layer 3 switching at the edge of the network.
-- Joel Conover
Today's modular-configuration switches play a role in every part of the enterprise. At the core of the network, they serve as gigabit switching routers, providing a robust and scalable backbone. At the distribution layer, these products supply Gigabit Ethernet fan-out as well as server-farm gigabit connectivity. And at the edge of the network, they provide high-density 10/100 modules with Gigabit Ethernet downlinks. In order for a switch to play all these roles, its characteristics must include high availability, high port density, extensive QoS features, and multiple levels of fault tolerance. This year, Cisco's new kid on the block, the Catalyst 6509, has proven to meet all these requirements. With the 6500 platform, Cisco has consistently delivered mission-critical features such as IP-based QoS, fault-tolerant switching engines, and software fault-tolerance features. In the case of the 6509, extensive LAN and now WAN switching features make it a contender in just about any market, and Cisco is doing its best to put it in every market. The Catalyst 6509 is Cisco's Cadillac of switching products. While competitors may bash it for its "paltry" 15-million-packet-per-second, 32-Gb switching backplane, we believe its performance and long-term viability make it the best of the current breed.
-- Joel Conover
When it comes to bridging your network between buildings, while the traditional--and costly--wired methods are still more prevalent, vendors of wireless solutions are providing attractive alternatives.
Leading the group in the wireless-bridge market is RadioLAN's 10-Mbps Campus BridgeLink Model 347. Operating in the unlicensed U-NII band at 5.7 GHz, RadioLAN's product can bridge a network over distances upwards of 1 mile, achieving true speeds of 7 to 9 Mbps. Easy to install, the bridge uses a sleek Web interface to handle nearly the entire configuration of the device. Its attractive price includes antennas and all the accessories you'll need to get a wireless bridging solution up and running.
-- Joel Conover
Our vision for the ideal wireless LAN system? It provides Ethernet-like performance for less than $200 per node, offers robust security and low power consumption, and supports a transmission range of several hundred feet in a typical office environment. While such a solution isn't quite here yet, Lucent Technologies has taken great strides in that direction with its Orinoco wireless LAN system.
Last year's news was the development of standards-based wireless LANs (see "Wired on Wireless: A New Class of 802.11 Devices Go the Distance" at www.nwc.com/1006/1006r2.html), but the low performance (2 Mbps), high price, and market confusion over multiple physical-layer specifications placed a damper on potential enthusiasm. Orinoco is Lucent's new name for its old WaveLAN product line, and the latest 802.11b offering rocked the industry with a price point of $179 for a wireless PC Card NIC.
The Orinoco wireless system consists of a wireless NIC with integrated antenna, and an access point that bridges the wired and wireless world. Though it's very fast, the overhead associated with wireless communications leads to throughput that's half the 11-Mbps data rate. And to achieve that performance, you'll need to be in close proximity to an access point--within 500 feet in an open office and 100 feet in a closed office environment. Those reservations aside, the Orinoco system is a solid offering that comes about as close to magic as anything we've seen in a long time.
-- Joel Conover
This category, new for the 2000 Well-Connected Awards, recognizes those vendors that are pushing forward with complete solutions targeted at a specific technology area--in this case, Gigabit Ethernet. In 1999, we tested solutions from nearly every major infrastructure vendor. While most of these vendors have a story to tell about their end-to-end Gigabit Ethernet solution, we nominated products from the "big three"--Cisco, Lucent and Nortel--as best-of-breed solutions in this space. This award recognizes the vendor that has shown the most growth, innovation and development in the Gigabit Ethernet product arena in 1999--and Cisco earns the award for best overall Gigabit Ethernet solution. From the Catalyst 6500 to the recently tested Catalyst 2948G-L3 and Catalyst 4908G-L3 products, Cisco has made a first-rate effort to own the Gigabit Ethernet switching market from top to bottom. That effort shows in a product line tailored to meet almost any business need, large or small. With a uniform, robust set of features and a standard operating system across all its products, Cisco is showing the competition that it knows how to do Gigabit Ethernet.
-- Joel Conover
Motorola's Vanguard Instant Access family of router-based ISDN service delivery units, the Vanguard 60, 70 and 80, have built in Web servers that simplify setting up and fine-tuning the devices using Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. (To extend Motorola's offerings, the Vanguard 2130 SDSL router recently joined the Vanguard 65 IDSL router in the Instant Access family.)
These full-featured routers support Stac LZS compression, and IP, TCP, RIP, UDP, DHCP, PAP/CHAP security, multilink PPP and BACP. Security is enhanced by IP address translation, IP filtering, and local and remote password access control.
Motorola's Vanguard Instant Access routers also offer "CostWatch," a more complete set of use-management tools than we found in any other devices we tested. These can be used to set windows--by individual user, time of day, and day of week--during which Internet browsing, large file transfers, or outbound calling can be restricted. CostWatch also enables monitoring of an individual user's or all users' activity. It's intelligent enough to automatically send an e-mail alert if, for example, after-hours Web-browsing activity exceeds a trigger limit.
-- Joel Conover
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