Extreme sent us a high-end BlackDiamond switch/ router with redundant CPU cards and eight slots for port cards. Our eight-slot BlackDiamond 6808 had a 128-gigabit backplane and was populated with two single-port 10-gigabit cards and an 8-port Gigabit Ethernet card. Extreme also has a 16-slot version with a 256-gigabit backplane.
We used the CLI (command-line interface) for all configuration. In spite of this, we found the setup straightforward. We appreciated the fact that we could start typing a command and hit a tab key to see the next set of options, and we were able to step through complex commands easily. We also liked being able to see running counters with the number of matches to all access-list conditions. The Extreme box has a full compliment of routing protocol and multicast routing support.
The BlackDiamond didn't drop a single packet, even in our most rigorous performance tests. It also came with very inexpensive 10-gigabit interfaces, though the numbers we were quoted were based on a "sale" price. We always find it a little suspect to see cut-rate network equipment, whose prices often have very short half-lives. Furthermore, actual prices of network hardware tends to be very negotiable, which is why we gave cost only a 5 percent weighting in our report card.
The Foundry switch also came with redundant CPU cards and slots for seven additional cards. Our test box included two single-port, 10-gigabit 802.3ae cards as well as a Gigabit Ethernet card. The Foundry platform uses an IOS-like CLI, which was very familiar and made configuration of the BigIron easy. We found, however, that the device could not give us statistics on access lists without our logging them to a syslog server. We didn't turn on this feature because it would have compromised performance in our testing.
The Foundry box had the best variety of 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. Along with the Long Range (1310nm) interface, which we required for our test, BigIron supports the Short Range and Extended Range LAN interfaces. Extreme's device supports only the Long Range Interfaces but the company says it plans to add support for the others. Interestingly, neither vendor supports the 802.3ae WAN interfaces, which are designed for providing a more economical transition to Sonet networks.
Peter Morrissey is full-time faculty member of Syracuse University's School of INformation Studies, and a contributing editor and columinist for Network Computing. Write to him at ppmorris@syr.edu.
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The BlackDiamond didn't drop a single packet, even in our most rigorous performance tests. It also came with very inexpensive 10-gigabit interfaces, though the numbers we were quoted were based on a "sale" price. We always find it a little suspect to see cut-rate network equipment, whose prices often have very short half-lives. Furthermore, actual prices of network hardware tends to be very negotiable, which is why we gave cost only a 5 percent weighting in our report card. 
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