Best Switching Hub

ALANTEC's PowerHub Bests Competition

Switching hubs are coming into their own and ALANTEC has the product to beat. With support for protocol routing as well as bridging, the PowerHub can handle data any way you want it.
ALANTEC gets bonus points for its unique expandable chassis system. Need more slots? Just buy a bigger backplane board and box from ALANTEC; all your existing cards will still work in it. This innovative twist on the stackable hub design, along with ALANTEC's wide array of interface options and software configurations, makes the PowerHub the system to beat in the switching hub market.
The kicker is ALANTEC's management software. Want it on an HP, IBM or Sun workstation? You got it. Want to run under OpenView, SunNet Manager or NetView/6000? It does that too. Want it standalone? You can have that as well.
Hot on ALANTEC's heels is 3Com Corp. Its LANplex 6000 series switching hub offers many of the same features, but it's not quite as flexible as ALANTEC's system. Both offer advanced filtering when bridging packets. The LANplex can be initially configured from the front panel--a feature that we'd like to see others adopt. The 3Com LANplex hub boasts the highest-speed backplane that we know at 3.5 Gbps. It has lots of expandability and 3Com is now delivering add-in boards that can use all that bandwidth.
Cisco Systems' Catalyst switching hub is also worth noting. Unlike the 3Com and ALANTEC systems, the Catalyst is a fixed-configuration box with eight switched Ethernet ports and a choice of FDDI modules. While the Catalyst doesn't offer performance like big slotte d hubs such as the LANplex and PowerHub, it isn't priced like one either. It also offers some unique features, like an integrated RMON probe.

PowerHub Intelligent Switching
Hub Model 7000, $19,410,
ALANTEC Corp., 70 Plumeria Dr., San Jose, CA 95134. (800) ALANTEC;
(408) 955-9000; fax (408) 955-9500.

Runners-Up
LANplex 6000 family, 3Com Corp., 5400 Bayfront Plaza,
Santa Clara, CA 95052.
(408) 764-5000; fax (408) 764-5001.

Cisco Catalyst, Cisco Systems, 170 W. Tasman Dr.,
San Jose, CA 95134-1706.
(800) 553-6387; (408) 526-4000;
fax (408) 526-4100.