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The hardware and software features of the OmniSwitch-Omni-MSS combo make it a tough candidate to beat. If the vendor can address the performance issues we encountered during our testing, this very strong switch could easily become a killer.

Olicom CrossFire ATM Switch 9100
The Olicom CrossFire ATM Switch 9100 is a switch of a different color--blue, to be exact. Neither it nor Madge Networks' Collage 740 switch met our 5-Gbps backplane requirement for core ATM backbone switches. In fact, our testing revealed that the Olicom switch's actual capacity was only 2.4 Gbps. Nevertheless, the CrossFire 9100 has a powerful feature set, and shouldn't be overlooked for smaller networks with lesser bandwidth requirements.

For starters, the 9100 has four expansion slots that can be populated by up to 16 OC-3 ports or three OC-12 ports--significantly fewer than the number of slots in the qualifying switches we tested. Its performance was on par with Cisco and Madge switches, clocking in at 13 0 calls per second.

Our good-throughput tests didn't yield any meaningful results because Olicom doesn't support EPD/PPD on PVC connections. EPD/PPD is supported on SVC (switched virtual circuit) connections--the connections that are made by standard LANE edge switches. Unfortunately, this liability had an adverse impact on the performance of Olicom's switch in our good-throughput benchmarks.

One of the newest ATM switches on the market today, the 9100 has one of the most complete and up-to-date feature sets we've seen. The 9100 is fully Traffic Management 4.0-compliant, and it supports enterprise features that even the big boys lack. For example, the 9100 is the only switch we tested that features a full hierarchical, multipeer group PNNI implementation. It comes with UNI 4.0 signaling code installed, and supports Explicit Rate ABR flow control. In addition, the 9100 supports a full suite of LANE services, including a CIP (Classical IP) ARP server, CIP client, LANE LECS and LES/BUS servers, and a LANE client.

No Capacity Shortage for Olicom The Olicom switch isn't short on capacity, either. The 9100 has 32,000 output-queued cell buffers, and can support up to 16,000 simultaneous VCCs. The 9100 is built for fault tolerance. It features an internal power supply with optional external DC power. The built-in LANE services are fully redundant and PNNI is standard, making it a highly reliable switch.

Unfortunately, Olicom left out the redundant, hot-swappable switching engine that would have made this an unsurpassable switch. But overall, we had few gripes about the CrossFire 9100. If Olicom has a bigger switch in the works based on the same technology, it will be a force to be reckoned with.

Madge Networks Collage 740 Backbone ATM Switch
Like the CrossFire 9100, the Madge Collage 740's backplane fell short of our 5-Gbps requirement for enterprise backbone switching. The Collage 740 has a 2.6-Gbps backplane, powered by a removable switching module. The perfo rmance of the Collage 740 was neck-and-neck with that of the Olicom and Cisco switches, topping out at 124 calls per second. The overall good-throughput from our EPD/PPD tests was excellent--the Madge switch flawlessly passed 84 percent of the PDUs we threw at it.

The Madge Collage 740 is a treasure for customers looking to implement Token-Ring networks. Madge is the only vendor to implement a full Source Route Bridging and Transparent Bridging Token-Ring LANE server. Though you won't find all the enterprise features found in some of the other switches we tested, the Collage 740 has most of the fault-tolerant features needed to get the job done--it supports an external DC power supply, a removable processor and switching engine, and fully redundant LECS/LES/BUS services. The Madge LECS service is proprietary and limited to Madge equipment, which means that if you go with the Collage 740, you'll have to buy Madge edge devices to take advantage of this service.

The software features of the Collage 740 seemed somewhat behind the competition. The 740 offers no support for PNNI, though a proprietary PDR (Proprietary Domain Routing) implementation is supported. In addition, the Collage 740 does not support ABR, a necessary feature for building scalable networks.