The growth of high bandwidth applications - such as advanced graphics and real-time video - is demanding vastly faster networks. 3Com has responded to the challenge with a family of new high-speed network interface cards and switches that can increase the available bandwidth on the network by tenfold while significantly reducing bottlenecks.
"Gigabit Ethernet is becoming necessary to accommodate the ever-growing - and increasingly congested - network activity and process-intensive server transactions," says Wolfgang Held, specialist networking consultant at 3Com SA.
He says 3Com`s Gigabit Ethernet over copper NICs and Gigabit Ethernet switches are targeted at businesses that need to connect groups of people affordably, yet still support bandwidth-hungry applications in such operations as finance, human resources, marketing, manufacturing, education and communication.
"We`re offering users the five essentials that they need from networking to meet the demands of today`s business requirements - more bandwidth, converged voice/data, security, mobility and Web applications with simplified network management," notes Held.
Held says that in addition to meeting its low cost objectives for Gigabit Ethernet technology - with costs claimed to be 30%-50% lower than the competition - 3Com is also looking to simplify it.
"While the deployment of Gigabit Ethernet can enable networks to cope with the increasingly complex tasks required by Internet-centred business today, Gigabit solutions should not be complex to implement, or difficult to administer," he says.
"Part of 3Com`s strategy is to make high-end solutions to complex problems more accessible, usable and cost-effective, and yet still provide feature-rich value to network connectivity."
Held adds that 3Com will continue to drive the transition to end-to-end Gigabit Ethernet at all levels: "Just as Fast Ethernet matured from being a core switch and server link technology to a desktop connectivity standard, Gigabit Ethernet is set to move outwards from the core of the network, and the next step on its journey is high-end server connectivity."
High speed products
The 3Com solution includes the new 3Com 10/100/1000BASE-T PCI-X server network interface card (NIC) and two new modules - 3Com SuperStack 3 Switch 4900 4-port 1000BASE-T and SuperStack 3 Switch 4900 4-port 1000BASE-LX - for the SuperStack 3 Switch 4900 product family, which was unveiled in 2000.
Together, 3Com`s new copper Gigabit NIC and the Switch 4900`s unshielded twisted pair (UTP) port options provide a solution for managed server connectivity over up to 100 metres of existing Category 5 (Cat 5) UTP cabling.
In addition, 3Com`s DynamicAccess Advanced Server software and drivers integrate tightly with Microsoft Windows products to provide additional features such as bi-directional load-balancing across multiple NICs, link failover, 802.1p Traffic Prioritisation and 802.1Q VLAN support.
This enables installed NICs to leverage the managed intelligence across 3Com`s SuperStack 3 switch range to provide resilience, Quality of Service (QoS) and security.
Market leadership
According to market analyst firm Cahners In-stat, 3Com is the market leader in Gigabit over copper switch port shipments. Due to a surge in the fourth quarter of 2000 around the delivery of new 3Com switches for businesses of all sizes, 3Com`s worldwide market share soared to 28.6%.
3Com`s recent acquisition of Alteon`s Gigabit NIC division has ensured that 3Com is ideally positioned to grow its market share in 1000BASE-T solutions even further.
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