Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caen!uwm.edu!psuvax1!atlantis.psu.edu!alton From: alton@sys-a (Alton Brantley) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.sys.cisco Subject: Cisco AGS+s and Cabletron FOTs Message-ID: Date: 3 May 91 15:31:05 GMT Sender: Organization: Milton S. Hershey Medical Center / Penn State College of Medicine / Hershey,PA Lines: 40 To enable communication between two routers in the Medical Center hubs, we are planning to use ethernet cards as an interim measure until the FDDI backbone is installed. To connect each router's ethernet card we are considering using the fiber optic cable already installed with fiber optic tranceivers to convert from AUI to fiber. The device that we selected is a Cabletron FOTF-2 Fiber Optic Transceiver at a cost of $350 each (we will use one at each end to convert from AUI to fiber then back to AUI.) Since the routers will not be delivered until the "last minute" I am concerned that this will be a working solution. I spoke to the Cabletron salesman who believed that this will work, but he left me skeptical. The following is a taken from the Cabletron catalog: FOTF-1 and FOTF-2 Fiber Optic Transceivers Calbetron's FOTF-1 and FOTF-2 comply with the IEEE 802.3 Fiber Optic Inter Repeater Link (FOIRL) standard and operate at a full 10 Mbps data rates. Both transceivers are compatible with popular multi-mode fiber cable types and can drive distances up to 3 km using 50, 62.5 or 100 micron core cabling. The difference between the two transceivers are the connectors provided. The FOTF-1 is equipped with SMA connectors while the FOTF-2 has ST connectors. This looks to me like a good solution. After the backbone is installed there may be a further use for this equipment. The ethernet cards that I specified are 2E cards. I would appreciate the net's opinion of the Cisco-Cabletron configuration because of the limited time between delivery and implementation requirement. Thanks for your help. Rick -- B. Alton Brantley, Jr alton@cit.hmc.psu.edu The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Penn State College of Medicine Hershey, PA USA 17033