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From: holtzman@mit-amt.MIT.EDU (Henry N. Holtzman)
Newsgroups: net.lan
Subject: Re: Fiber-optic Ethernet Extender
Message-ID: <203@mit-amt.MIT.EDU>
Date: Thu, 22-May-86 10:26:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: mit-amt.203
Posted: Thu May 22 10:26:32 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 24-May-86 20:42:24 EDT
References: <373@imagen.UUCP> <3732@sun.uucp>
Distribution: net
Organization: MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA
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Digital makes two products you may be interested in:

1:  Ethernet Repeater (DEREP) and

2:  Lan Bridge 100 (DEBET).

Both have options which allows two of them to be connected together
with a fiber cable forming a single "virtual" repeater.

The difference is that the DEREP blindly repeats all packets onto both
sides, while the DEBET only passes packets that are aimed for the
other segment.  In another words, the DEBET is sort of like a ethernet
level gateway.  The net will appear as one to higher levels, but the
segments will have reduced load.

I am told there are other manufacturers of similar products.  I have
no experience with either yet, although I am about to install 8
DEREPS.  Amusingly enough, they were aquired from Hewlett Packard as
part number 92223A.  When the units arrived they looked uncomfortably
familiar (anyone who owns lots of dec equipment will recognize a DEC
enclosure anywhere), so I (well, actually, someone else beat me to
it) peeled off the HP label and it said DIGITAL DEREP underneath.  The
trancievers were also DEC H4000's with a label covering the name and
part number.

-Henry