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From: jshelton@deimos.ADS.COM (John L. Shelton)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Ethernet alternative needed
Message-ID: <9478@zodiac.ADS.COM>
Date: 12 Oct 89 01:16:21 GMT
Sender: news@zodiac.ADS.COM
Reply-To: jshelton@ADS.COM (John L. Shelton)
Distribution: na
Organization: Advanced Decision Systems, Mt. View, CA (415) 960-7300
Lines: 28


We are running out of bandwidth on several of our seven ethernet
subnets, and are considering the options.  The quick-and-dirty option
is to add more subnets, and upgrade our Cisco gateway.  I'm not
convinced this is a good long-range solution, however.

I think a given is that we will not upgrade 100+ CPUs to FDDI; we can
assume that all CPUs have Ethernet hardware interface, and will
continue to have them for at least 2 years.

I thought I had run across a network product last year that implements
ethernet over fiber optic, but provides 100mb/s bandwidth.  You attach
to the fiber with interconnects that support up to 8 ethernet-based
hosts (sort of like a DELNI), and the box gets the packets going on
the fiber at very high speed.  WHile any one host is limited to 10mb/s
performance (ethernet limit), the aggregate network capacity is much
higher.

The benefit to such a scheme is clear: no one host can swamp a
network; no need for subnetting; no gateway to slow you down; no
worries about balancing load between subnets; no pulling more
ethernets around a building; no trying to hook up to N ethernets is an
already cramped cable closet.

Can anyone give pointers to this (perhaps hypothetical) network
system?  Thanks.

=John=