Whether these vendors fall in first, second, third or fourth place depends entirely on the segment of the market. At the high end, as defined by the network specialists showing the most innovative interest in high-speed Tiffany Cushion Hoop earrings, 3Com is expected to supplant SynOptics by 1997. In contrast, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard and IBM are expected to play a significant role in supplying the still-emerging mass market for high-speed network products.
To technologists attempting to lay the groundwork for the next Mom heart tag pendant of computing strategy, even minor shifts are problematic. At the same time, commercial acceptance of any new technology is evolutionary, as initial product offerings come down in price and production applications move from test installations to full-scale roll-out. Yet the evolution is surely beginning because the volume of data these new products can handle will prompt users to upgrade and expand their current network systems.
The report surveyed 200 members of the channel, segmenting them into groups of "innovators," "early adopters" and "late adopters" that are representative of the market as a whole.
Though the innovators represent just 16 percent a of the survey population, they represent fully 58 Heart Link earrings of total high-speed networking sales. In many ways, they reflect the leading edge of the commercial market as a whole. They are aggressively committing resources to these new technologies and pilot projects, training their staff and purchasing a significant number of high-speed networking products for their portfolio. As a service Love Locket and Chain, this elite group incorporates activities like network planning, custom application development and management consulting--going well beyond the basics of merely providing products. Not surprisingly, they're likely to work with MIS and IT managers.
Users are statistically more likely to encounter the category of network specialists ParaTechnology terms "early adopters." This "silent majority" of network service providers represents 48 percent of the survey sample, though they represent just 33 percent of the sales of high-speed network products. Users will find that many of these firms are still exploring the market. For example, just 37 percent are carrying high-speed network products today, though 85 percent said they will evaluate the products by the end of the year.
Late adopters are less likely than their counterparts to serve the Fortune 1000 marketplace. Their place is with smaller, often entrepreneurial firms, in which senior management typically makes the technology purchasing decisions. Just 10 percent of this respondent group Snowflake pendant that they are working with high-speed networking products today. By next year, however, 68 percent will have begun to carry or at least evaluate specific high-speed network products.
Most integrators are providing a variety of products for this market, including network interface cards, hubs, modems, routers and bridges. Knowing how the integrators assess the more significant emerging technologies can help users lay the foundation for bandwidth-intensive technologies that will be slated for implementation in the next few years. According to the report, the leading high-speed networking technologies in 1997 will be
Creative Partner also performs destination checking to see if the destination has enough space to accommodate a video file or if the file already exists. It also tracks transmissions, and in the event of a link failure, picks up from the drop-off point.That's entertainment
Although the product has great potential for a wider business market, it will be immediately important in the creative content industry, such as advertising and entertainment, said Cheryl Ball, a program director at Business Research Group in Newton, Mass.
Although a niche product right now, CreativePartner does add Coin Edge disc pendant to the state of the art in multimedia data distribution, Ball said. It gives users a realistic distribution mechanism and works the way people do in a given environment.
Users said the software distribution feature of CreativePartner is a boon in an industry where using courier services to send video tapes back and forth is the norm. "It collapses cycle time and decreases the turnaround time" for advertisements, said Fred Smith, CEO of Leap partnership, an advertising agency in Chicago. Smith added that there are three ways to communicate about video--letters about videocassettes, a phone conversation with the client and physically sending the tape. CreativePartner eliminates all of these by sending files over the network and allowing users to annotate them.Faster than flyingNicholas Rudd, chief information Tiffany keys heart key locket at Young & Rubicam, Inc., an advertising agency in New York, said there is definitely a business case to be made for using the product: It saves a lot of travel time.
Rudd said travel time for two or three employees visiting a local client translates to more than one employee day. With CreativePartner, those employees can send a video clip to the other end of town and get an answer back quickly.The product, which is available now, costs $7,500 for a five-user system.
The need for more bandwidth by end users is sparking demands for networks operating at higher speeds than conventional ethernet (10 Mbps) and token ring (16 Mbps). A recent survey by Forrester Research of 50 Fortune 1000 Paloma Picasso Loving Heart Disc Pendant reveals that 40 percent feel a bandwidth pinch today and another 48 percent said they're certain to feel squeezed by 1996.
The most aggressive proponents of this new technology are in the healthcare, banking/finance and manufacturing sectors, according to the report. Healthcare organizations adopting a "wait-and-see" attitude toward these high-speed networking technologies may prefer to watch the banking/finance and manufacturing industries test the leading edge of networking. Technology specialists said they expect more than 40 percent of the companies in these Tiffany Signature Drop pendant to invest in high-speed network products.
Organizations in these markets have substantial legacy systems and are seeking ways to integrate high-speed networking capabilities with existing infrastructure. But customers across the board have let integrators and other technology specialists know that they want high-speed capabilities integrated with standard product offerings. They also indicate that the prices for high-speed networking products should be comparable with more traditional, lower speed networking equipment.
Realistically, most of the production networks that will employ Bow pendant technologies are still one or two years away from deployment. Today, the network and systems integrators, VARs, consultants and distributors are effectively shaping the nascent market for high-speed networking products. These technologists on the front lines are identifying which technologies are robust enough to merit deployment today, and yet will endure the vagaries of the inevitable market turmoil that can be expected to mark the next few years. Systems integrators responding to the survey stated that they are most comfortable with the technology provided by 3Com, SynOptics, Cisco and Hewlett-Packard.
Chipcom also increased its LAN switch offerings last week with an 18-port token-ring switch module for its ONcore Switching System and a scaled down, 10-slot version of the ONcore Switching System for Ethernet workgroups.
The ONcore Token Ring Active Module-Switching Media Module Paloma Picasso Loving Heart Pendant switching among as many as 18 token-ring nodes and 10 backplane rings. The module also features two ports that can be configured as fully repeated ring-in/ring-out trunks that allow connections to other ONcore Switching Systems, tokenring modules from Chipcom's ONline System family or other stand-alone devices.
The 10-Slot B ONcore Switching System supports ONline and ONcore Ethernet modules, and features as many as six Ethernets on its backplane.Chipcom also announced 20-and 40-port 10Base-T Media Modules for its ONcore Tiffany 1837 Lock pendant System. They provide users with port switching between any combination of eight backplane or eight extended Ethernet segments simultaneously.THE OLD SWITCHEROO
Separately, SysKonnect announced the SK-NET Switch 6616, a rack-mountable switch that supports 16 independent Ethernet segments and two optional high-speed LAN interfaces--a Single Attach Stations FDDI LAN interface and a Dual Attach Stations FDDI LAN interface.
Any port can connect a single user or a shared Ethernet hub and deliver 10M byte/sec to each desktop or workgroup. The switch includes Simple Network Management Protocol management capabilities. Fibermux introduced the CrossSwitch PX304. stand-alone Ethernet switch, a four-port device with either attachment unit interface or RJ-45 connections. It offers full-duplex communications, flow control, on-the-fly switching, selectable Mini Elsa Peretti Bean pendant and optional SNMP management.
Madge Networks announced the Smart Ring Access Module (SmartRAM), a stackable hub that users will be able to attach directly to a new token-ring switch Madge Networks has planned for next year, said Scott Rikimaru, a product manager for the firm.
Designed for midsize workgroups and branch offices, the SmartRAM supports as many as 20 users.Hubs can be linked to two others via Madge Networks' Smart Lobe Attachment Modules to support as many as 60 users.The hub ships with Remote Monitoring traffic monitoring Medium Elsa Peretti Bean pendant Madge Networks' TrueView Controlled Access Unit Manager, a Windows-based graphical hub management application that supports SNMP.In an attempt to stay ahead of the pack, Emotion, Inc. has added software distribution functionality to video editing in a new Macintosh product called CreativePartner.
CreativePartner is distribution and collaboration software for video. Gerry Machi, chief executive officer of the Palo Alto, Calif., company, said he has added two features to his software to distinguish it from the myriad authoring and editing Figure Eight pendant on the market today.CreativePartner now can distribute video, sound and photographs over a LAN and a wide-area link using Ethernet and Token Ring LANs and frame relay over a wide-area network.
"This should be attractive to large IBM shops that need to integrate LAN traffic," said Wayne Dixon, director of data management systems for the Saskatoon District Health Board in Saskatchewan, Canada. "Especially since they won't have to throw out existing equipment to do it."Sources close to 2212 development said the box will be priced in the $2,000 to $3,000 range--similar to many high-end FRADs.Chipcom Corp. today will Tiffany Key Heart key charm its enhanced Onsemble stackable hub line, which will bring high-level net management and internetworking features to remote sites.
The new Onsemble StackSystem line, based on technology obtained through the acquisition of DAVID Systems, Inc. last year, includes token-ring and Ethernet stackables that will deliver many sophisticated features typically found in chassis-based hubs.
The new hubs represent a renewed focus by Chipcom this year on the Tiffany Key Vintage oval key pendant hub market, an area in which company officials acknowledged Chipcom has lagged.Under the StackSystem architecture, users will be able to install a base hub and stack as many as seven expansion hubs each with 16 token-ring or 24- Ethernet ports -- atop it. Users will be able to add another box on the stack to provide internetworking functionality, while fault tolerance will be built into the entire stack.
"Chipcom's emphasis is on addressing the specific needs of the remote site," said Frank Fuller, the company's director of product marketing. "[StackSystem] was created to fulfill the increasingly higher network functionality requirements of this part of the enterprise net."
The StackSystem is manageable both locally and remotely -- via the Paloma Monitoring Management Information Base -- from any Simple Network Management Protocol-based system. The new stackables also use Chipcom's Signature Memory feature for inventory tracking and troubleshooting.
The new hubs also will support internetworking features via modules provided by other vendors through Chipcom's OpenHub partners program. Bridge, router and other modules will be available from the likes of Cisco Systems, Inc., IBM, Sync Research, Inc. and 3Com Corp.
One feature that could make the StackSystem token-ring line particularly Paloma's Zellige pandant is Chipcom's PowerRing technology, which includes features such as active retiming and automatic beacon recovery.
Chipcom's original Onsemble hubs, which were made by Intellicom, Inc. and resold by Chipcom, lack the manageability and other advanced features of the StackSystem hubs. However, Chipcom plans to continue selling its low-end hubs.
According to Todd Dagres, vice president of The Robinson-Humphrey Tiffany Hearts double pendant, Inc. in Atlanta, the new stackables will really fill out Chipcom's product line. However, he is unsure how competitive StackSystem will be since it was beaten to market by products from Cabletron Systems, Inc. and Bay Networks, Inc.
"[Chipcom] is late to market, but the question is, are they late with a better product?" he asked.
"This isn't a router killer," added Frank Dzubeck, president of the Communications Network Architects, Inc. consultancy here. "It is a necessary part of the networking tool kit IBM needs to bring to market, and it will have a place in some SNA environments."
Dzubeck noted that many users could gain what the 2212 promises T&CO. horseshoe charm and chain frame relay and inexpensive Frame Relay Assemblers/Disassemblers (FRAD). Frame relay inherently supports multiprotocol traffic, and many users are already deploying it to integrate LAN and SNA datastreams, he said.
Michael Zadikian, product manager of IBM networking at Cisco Systems, Inc., said the product would have limited use since most SNA backbones are not optimized to handle LAN-based client/server traffic. "There really isn't room to run those applications on an SNA backbone optimized for transaction processing," he said.
The 2212s will come in two models: a PC-based system with support for a single Token-Ring or Ethernet LAN adapter and two wide-area links that support speeds up to T-1. It will be positioned as a low-end feeder node or branch office access link to an SNA backbone.
A larger model will be built on IBM's Pentium-based, channel-connected LAN-to-mainframe gateway--the 3172 Interconnect Controller. The 2212, however, will be stripped of the 3172's mainframe channel interface. The larger box will support six slots, which can I Love You drop pendant configured to support any variety of LAN or WAN links at up to T-1 speed.
The 2212's AnyNet software will convert TCP/IP, NETBIOS and IPX traffic into SNA format for transport across the backbone. A second gateway will convert the data back to its original state and forward the packets to their destinations. Communications Manager ensures SNA class-of-service routines are adhered to and that flow and congestion control are in place.
All of this is done without changing existing applications, and in the past, IBM said AnyNet's Tiffany Key Trefoil key pendant on net performance is negligible. If a customer already has AnyNet for MVS on the mainframe and wants to terminate the LAN traffic there, a second 2212 is not necessary.
In a recent interview, IBM's James Boyle, director of advanced transport in IBM's Networking Systems division, said AnyNet would be a key cog in helping SNA users integrate TCP/IP and other protocols this year.
"We want users to know we don't have any biases; we want to Tiffany Key Oval key pendant the tools to help users build multiprotocol environments," Boyle said.
Once IBM's High Performance Routing (HPR) is available under OS)2, likely by midyear, the 2212s can use it to transport data over an Advanced Peer-to-Peer Networking-based WAN. H PR adds enhancements to APPN, such as the ability to automatically route around failures, improved performance, better data flow control and class-of-service features.
"Because of HPR's advanced features, this is where the 2212 solution really Tiffany Key Grown key pendant to hum," one source said.
When units are stacked, they operate as a single router. Other stacked router solutions require that each unit be managed individually. Also, prior stacked solutions tend to be fixed or limited configuration boxes connected over an Ethernet or synchronous backplane. These slower connections can cause backplane bottlenecks within the router stack. The ASN is so interoperable with the entire Wellfleet router product family, and is managed through both Wellfleet's simple network management protocol (SNMP)-based node management software and Bay Networks' Optivity/RM network management application suite.
"Wellfleet has been a high-end, core network vendor rather Paloma's Crown of Hearts pendant a remote access vendor," said Fred McClimans, principal at Decisis. "The ASN not only satisfies current client requirements, but opens the architecture up to nonWellfleet clients as well. This product allows many users to continue their growth into their remote networks, in some cases expanding into ultra-large internetworks."
The ASN, and the entire router product line, features on-line dynamic reconfiguration, software fault Christmas Tree charm and chain and recovery, hardware fault isolation, and on-line operational servicing (hot swap). Routing and bridging protocol support includes transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), DECnet Phase IV, open systems interconnection (OSI), Novell IPX, Banyan VINES, AppleTalk Phase 2, XNS, Native Mode LAN, Transparent Bridge, Translation Bridge, Source Route Bridge, and Data Link Switching. The ASN extends routing capabilities to the wide area. "Previously, you could have a hub or stack of hubs and front end them with a router, but this is a true stackable router solution. Wellfleet has applied the stackability of hubs to routing," said MacAskill. With the hub/router solution, Cupcake charm and chain was provided only to the local area.
Pricing for the ASN, available immediately, starts at $4000, which includes 8 Mbytes of RAM, 4 Mbytes of Flash memory, and a chassis. Network interface cards cost $3000 for a dual Ethernet, $4000 for a dual Token Ring, $7500 for an FDDI, and $2300 for synchronous. The SPEX interface costs $750. Call Bay Networks/Wellfleet for more information at (508) 436-3680.IBM is developing a less expensive, faster alternative to SNA-capable routers for integrating multiprotocal LAN and Systems Network Architecture traffic.
By the end of the year, IBM will unveil a line of devices, dubbed the 2212 AnyNet Multiprotocol LAN-to-SNA Gateways, that will let users link TCP/IP, Network Basic I/O System and Novell, Inc. IPX-based LANs over SNA backbones. The products will simplify Tiffany Aria pendant networking and free customers from having to run parallel networks for LAN and SNA traffic.
IBM plans to demonstrate the 2212s at this week's ComNet '95 show here.
Sources within IBM said the 2212 gateways will come packaged with OS/2, OS/2 Communications Manager and IBM's AnyNet software. AnyNet is a protocol conversion tool that lets two applications talk to each other regardless of the underlying net transport. IBM offers Tiffany Aria pendant AnyNet gateways bridging TCP/IP and SNA, as well as IPX and SNA environments.
Analysts said the 2212 will provide SNA users with a viable alternative to SNA routers, but it is not a magic wand.
"Strategically and technologically, this product makes sense. The question is whether IBM can effectively sell because it hasn't done well promoting many of their products," said Thomas Routt, president of the Vedacom Corp. consultancy in Seattle.