Following the launch of its Ethernet Workgroup Switch last month (CI No 2,684) CrossComm Corp has announced the XLT Backbone LAN Switch and the XLT-F ATM Edge Router. Both are being billed as replacements for the router components of networks that have outgrown the capacity of Ethernet, Token Ring or FDDI-based corporate backbones networks, or for networks requiring high-speed backbone connections. Each router supports up to four local area network interfaces and a single Asynchronous Transfer Mode port, providing switching between two Ethernet, two Token Ring, a Token Ring and an Ethernet local networks. A fast packet switching port can also be used to connect an Asynchronous Transfer wide area network and a Token Ring or Ethernet local network. It is also be used to replace saturated Ethernet or FDDI backbones between campus local networks with a higher-speed DS3 or OC3 solution. CrossComm said the point-to-point connection can be implemented without an Transfer Mode switch, with high-speed backbones being created by using cross-connected local area networks through two XLT-Fs. The XLT Backbone LAN Switch has both built-in distributed Asynchronous Mode switching and the processing power to run multiprotocol routing, and is designed to connect legacy Ethernet and Token Ring local networks over the collapsed Aysnchronous Transfer back bone in the CrossComm XL20 or XL80 communications system, enabling combinations of up to 32 Token Ring and Ethernet local area networks to be connected in the XL80. Both are out now from ú6,000 upwards.
