Proteon Inc, Westborough, Massachusetts has launched the first of a series of bridge-routers that mark a move towards the commodity market. The first member of the new DNX300 family the DNX300m – is a four-port multiprotocol router costing UKP3,000 to UKP4,750, depending on the number of ports. The company has included all of the protocols normally associated with its routers – 17 in all. However two lower cost members of the family are expected soon, the 300i, tailored to the IBM Corp environment and routing Internet Protocol, SDLC and Netware IPX protocols only; and the 300n – a NetWare router. Despite the fact the company reckons that the new product represents a 30% cost-saving compared with the performance of its existing B4100 range, the old and new families are to be sold side-by-side that the DNX family will take a maximum of two local area and two wide area network links and is intended for the small branch-office market that has the attention of so many companies these days. This market is very fast moving says Franck Leclerq, the company’s European internetworking product manager: The needs of a year ago are different from what we see today. Proteon has decided that the key to capturing the branch-office is ease of use. Hence the router is delivered pre-configured, and has a number of features which supposedly help installation. The DNX300m is shipping immediately, but users in NetWare or IBM environments will probably find it worth waiting for the cheaper DNX300i and DNX300n, due by the end of October.
