Olicom recently joined forces with other leading industry vendors to form the "High-Speed Token-Ring (HSTR) Alliance," a consortium dedicated to the rapid advancement of standards-based Token-Ring technology. Olicom`s new product strategy is based on the HSTR standard, and includes HSTR support for its recently launched CrossFire Token-Ring switch and server adapters. These offerings are designed to facilitate the seamless migration of Token-Ring servers, workstations and switches to the new 100Mbps Token-Ring technology. According to Olicom Africa country manager, Louis Appunn, Olicom`s future HSTR connectivity options will enable network users to extend the advantages of Token-Ring`s deterministic access and larger frame sizes. "For our large installed base of Token-Ring customers, the HSTR initiative represents an important advancement for a networking technology that has served them well for many years. "In addition, Olicom`s investment in Token-Ring development gives the company an important head-start in bringing 100Mbps Token-Ring technology to desk-top level," he adds.Backgrounder: HSTR Boosts Token-Ring TechnologyHSTR technology provides a critical boost for the Token-Ring market, allowing network managers to increase bandwidth from 16Mbps to 100Mbps, and eventually to 1Gbps, with little or no change to their surrounding Token-Ring infrastructure. This provides Token-Ring users with an important alternative to a costlyand complex "forklift upgrade" to Fast Ethernet or ATM technologies, andenables companies to implement higher speeds at the backbone while maintaining a frame-based Token-Ring environment. These capabilities figure prominently in Olicom`s strategy to facilitate Token-Ring users` migration to faster networking technologies while protecting their existing network investments.
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