Lancast Inc., a leading provider of network connectivity solutions, has announced the release of AccessNIC 100, a dual port network interface card with a single MAC address designed to provide high network availability for business critical applications. The AccessNIC 100 is an especially attractive solution for mid-sized businesses as well as government agencies, educational, financial, medical, military organizations and satellite offices that must maintain connection to the server for system critical applications.
The AccessNIC incorporates SMDP( (Single MAC Dual Port) technology to make network access reliable and seamless. Utilizing a single MAC address on dual ports, the NIC can be configured to provide data link redundancy by providing a primary link for normal operation and a secondary link should the network connection fail due to hub, switch or cabling failure. Additional features allow the IS manager to select which data path will be used without physically moving network connections.
For applications which require controlled network access, one port on the AccessNIC may be connected to a switch, while the second port remains open. This allows the user to isolate the workstation from the network by simply selecting which port is active. By connecting the two ports to two different switches or two independent networks, the user has the option to choose which network to connect, i.e., a test network or production network; secured or public network.
Because the AccessNIC has a single MAC address, the loss of the primary link is transparent to the user. Unique hardware failover circuitry enables extremely fast failover and does not impact server performance in any way. Sites can now "dual home" critical servers and workstations without potential data loops or Spanning Tree issues. Even if a network failure occurs, an entire department (i.e., production, trading floor, accounting, payroll, reservations, etc.) can continue to work.
The card utilizes industry-standard SNMP-based protocols for remote management and trap support and integrates into Microsoft Windows 95, 98 and NT.
"Businesses today are very dependent on the network and access to business critical information located on a central or departmental server is essential," states Jack Steinkrauss, president of Lancast. "The AccessNIC is targeted towards customers who require resilience in their network but need to keep complexity to a minimum."
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