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"The idea is to offer one-stop shopping for high-speed SNA and TCP/IP connectivity," said Don Imhoff, net gateways product manager at Computerm.VMC SNA Server is built on a 100-MHz Intel Corp. Pentium processor and can support up to six token-ring, Ethernet or FDDI LAN connections.

Using the SNA Server software, the box can support as many as 2,000 users and up to 10,000 SNA logical unit sessions with the mainframe The software supports the conversion of TCP/IP, IPX, Named Pipes, VINES and AppleTalk to SNA protocols, giving remote client access to resources on both the mainframe and AS/400 hosts. It also can act as a tn3270 or 5250 terminal emulation server to both environments.VMC SNA Server I Love You lock charm be available Feb. 29. Pricing for a system with an Enterprise Systems Connection and LAN interface begins at $27,000.Attachmate and Microsoft

Microsoft this week will also announce new software and a relationship with Attachmate Corp. that will boost connectivity options for its SNA Server package. Attachmate will bundle SNA Server with its Extra terminal-emulation software in a package dubbed The Ultimate SNA Tiffany Nature butterfly pendant Starter Pack. It includes SNA Server and five Extra client licenses. The package is available now for $1,339, which is about half the cost of purchasing the components separately.

Microsoft will roll out its free Service Pack 1 for SNA Server, which includes:* An interface that lets users link SNA Server with the Microsoft Internet Information Server residing on the same server.* tn3270E emulation, the latest form of 3270 emulation that lets SNA users access the mainframe over TCP/IP-based nets.* Support for SNA/SDLC for branch office communications.* Support for communications between SNA Server Graduated bead drop pendant System/3X boxes.* A Windows 95 client for SNA Server.

Information systems managers across the country and around the world are switching from their shared-capacity Ethernet LANs and Token Ring LANs to Ethernet switching, which is inexpensive and gives end users dedicated bandwidth.This is analogous to the shift in residential telephone use from party lines to private phone lines.

"[The move to] switching is a capacity issue," said Blair Sanders, a senior member of the technical staff at Texas Instruments, Inc. in Dallas. "With switching, you get a dedicated 10M, 16M or 100M bit/sec. of capacity per port as opposed to having to share those Airplane charm pendant [among] many users."

Ethernet switching is the hottest segment of the LAN switching market; it has grown from $100 million in the third quarter of 1994 to $349 million in the third quarter last year, according to the Dell'Oro Group in Menlo Park, Calif.The number of Ethernet switch vendors has swelled, which is good news for users because it has sent the price of Ethernet switch ports plummeting. A port cost more than $700 a few years ago; one port and a few Tiffany Notes locket and chain costs less than $100 today.User nod

Token Ring switching also is gaining user acceptance, but more slowly than Ethernet switching. That is because 10M bit/sec. Ethernets run out of bandwidth before 16M bit/sec. Token Ring networks. That isn't to say vendors are dragging their feet with Token Ring switching. In the past few months, IBM, Bay Networks, Inc., Madge Networks, Inc., Standard Microsystems Corp. and start ups Nashoba Networks, Inc. and Xylan Corp. have shipped Token Ring switches.