Ipsilon Networks Inc, the Palo Alto, California-based company that pioneered the idea of switching Internet Protocol traffic at Layer 2 over Asynchronous Transfer Mode hardware (CI No 2,923) is winning over more adherents, with two new supporters announced. First up is General DataComm Industries Inc, Danbury, Connecticut, which has licensed Ipsilon’s Internet Protocol Switching Protocols and plans to integrate them with its Apex Asynchronous Transfer Mode family. General DataComm plans to go after the same market as Ascend Communications Inc’s NetStar Inc acquisition (CI No 2,925), by targeting Internet access providers needing high-speed Internet Protocol routing, Frame Relay, Ethernet and Asynchronous Mode switching. General DataComm claims that Apex, coupled with the Ipsilon software, will provide up to 5Gbps of Internet Protocol switching bandwidth per system. The Apex family includes the Apex-DV2 enterprise switch; the Apex-NPX, which is pitched at telecommunications service providers and the Multi-Service Access Family (MAC, MAC1), designed to extend Asynchronous Mode from the enterprise network to remote locations. General DataComm is not giving out a development timetable. The second new convert is Efficient Network s Inc, which is to develop what will be the first family of Internet Protocol switch-enabled Asynchronous Transfer Mode adaptors. Efficient plans to integrate the Ipsilon protocols with its Sbus, PCI, and EISA Asynchronous Mode adaptors. Initially, SunOS and Solaris environments will be supported – the company is hoping to have these adaptors shipping later this quarter – with models incorporating drivers for Windows NT and Windows95 following. No timetable was given for development of these. Ipsilon also plans to sign an OEM agreement for the Efficient Networks adaptors when they are launched.
