Hauppauge, New Jersey-based Standard Microsystems Corp has announced a 4Mbps/16Mbps 32-bit Token Ring server bus master EISA network adaptor, the TokenCard Elite Master32. It is based on Standard Micro’s Token Ring chip set and is claimed to be the lowest priced offering in its class. The adaptor ships with Standard Micro’s SuperDisk and is said to include drivers for all major network operating systems and an EISA configuration file. Additionally, says the company, each adaptor includes EZStart, its configuration and installation software. The company further claims it is the only vendor to include a free Simple Network Management Protocol agent, PC Agent/Simple Network Management Protocol, with each adaptor. This agent is said to provide Simple Network Management Protocol statistics about the adaptor, as well as information about the host personal computer. The adaptor has connectors for shielded and unshielded twisted pair and supports bus master burst mode data transfers. According to Standard Micro, results from the independent US testing and consulting firm Tolly Group have demonstrated that the product can achieve throughput of 15.39Mbps running Novell Inc’s Perform3 in a 16Mbps network. The test also revealed the new board’s central processor unit utilisation was 30% running the Monitor NetWare Loadable Module, says the company. The test was performed with three workstations attached to a NetWare 4.01 server, using 4Kb frame sizes. Available now, it costs UKP300 for a single adaptor and UKP1,400 for a five-pack.
