When configured with optional, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) uplinks, the ESX switches unlock the true power of a multiservice ATM core that is surrounded by a frame edge by mapping knowledge of application flows into the native services provided by ATM. In the end, the ESX-4800 and ESX-2400 extend FORE`s resilient Intelligent Infrastructure, delivering a new level of flexibility so that the network infrastructure may adapt to the ever-changing demands of the networked business.
The products confirm FORE`s position as a leading network supplier providing complete solutions for the mission-critical needs of today`s and tomorrow`s businesses. The ESX switches provide unparalleled Ethernet performance, whether they are at the edge of a large campus ATM backbone, in the core of medium-sized networks, in Internet Service Provider Point-of-Presence LANs or in front of Web host server farms, delivering wire-speed firewalling.
"With these new products, FORE Systems dramatically expands its addressable market space," said Milton Thorne, director of operations at FORE Systems southern Africa. "In addition to providing high performance solutions for large and very large networks, these advanced Ethernet-based switches will give us a distinct advantage in new business opportunities with medium- and smaller-sized organisations."
With up to 48 Gigabit Ethernet ports, or 384 10/100 Ethernet ports, the ESX-4800 delivers up to 38 million packets per second (Mpps) forwarding at Layer-2, Layer-3 and Layer-4. The ESX-2400 offers exactly half the capacity and density of the ESX-4800, with up to 24 ports of Gigabit Ethernet, 192 ports of 10/100 Ethernet and up to 19 Mpps forwarding.
"The ESX switches provide our customers with unprecedented Ethernet scalability and performance," added Thorne. "At the same time, the ESX`s Application Aware switching and the Integrated Network Services Switching Architecture set FORE apart as a vendor with incredibly fast and intelligent Layer 3 routing switches."
Unlike traditional routers and switches, the ESX-4800 and ESX-2400 switches provide Application Aware switching to classify application flows and enforce a variety of policies, such as security or class of service, at wire speed on any port. The ASICs on these ESX switches are unique in their ability to support stateful application flow classification - flows with dynamic TCP or UDP port assignments. Examples of stateful applications include those based on H.323, DCOM, CORBA, Sun RPC, and FTP. This is a distinct advantage over traditional routers with filtering, which can only classify static TCP or UDP port assignments.
The management and control of application traffic is supported by an Integrated Network Services Switching architecture, providing superior flexibility and investment protection. This architecture employs Windows NT Server as an embedded, multi-service operating system with support for application agent or service agent plug-ins that uniquely integrate the network infrastructure with applications and services, essentially binding the infrastructure, applications and services together.
The first such agent is the Firewall Switching Agent, providing wire-speed TCP/IP firewalling, which was awarded the overall Grand Prize at NetWorld+Interop Las Vegas in May of this year. Additional agents are planned to support applications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), directory enabled network services, naming services, videoconferencing and IP telephony.
Editors Note
About FORE Systems
FORE Systems is a leading global supplier of networking solutions based on an Intelligent Infrastructure designed to handle the networked applications of today and tomorrow. FORE`s Networks of Steel deliver the increased capacity, reduced complexity and unparalleled flexibility and scalability necessary to build networks that last. Thousands of enterprise and service provider customers worldwide have put FORE Systems` solutions at the heart of their networks.
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