Santa Monica, California-based Retix Inc has filled out its Ethernet switch range with the MetroLAN 5000 family, aimed at telecommunications service providers wanting to offer metropolitan area interconnect services. The range comprises three models – with one, four and eight ports – which are designed to connect to 45Mbps DS3 carrier services. They are based around Retix’s Distributed Switching Architecture, which is said to employ an external backplane for connecting multiple switches. Also incorporated is a DS3 bypass switch intended to enable the switch to continue passing data in the event of a power failure. Used with the products’ built-in Spanning Tree support, says Retix, this enables a standby unit to replace a failed unit automatically, for mission-critical networks. It has Simple Network Management Protocol and modules are available for 10Base-T, and BNC connectors. They are out now, at prices from $8,300 to $10,800.
