Routers/Switches /

Vendors lower Gigabit Ethernet price bar

By Phil Hochmuth
Network World, 11/26/01

Netgear and D-Link Systems recently debuted an array of copper-based Gigabit Ethernet products, some with a per-port price tag as low as $90.

The new 1000Base-T switches and network interface card (NIC) could be used by businesses looking to boost their LAN bandwidth, but which can't afford to buy expensive fiber-optic cabling and hardware to support Gigabit Ethernet. Larger companies could use the products to expand their copper Gigabit connections inexpensively.

With copper-based Gigabit Ethernet products shipping for more than a year now, the significance of these new products is not so much what they do, but what they cost. At $90, Netgear's new NIC is the lowest-cost product of its kind, while Netgear's switches cost between $91 and $97 per Gigabit port. D-Link's switch is in the same price range, at around $100 per port.

Netgear's GS516T and the GS524T switches provide 16 and 24 unmanaged Layer 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports that work with Category 5 wiring. All ports on the switches can autosense 10/100/1000M bit/sec connections. The Netgear's FS309T and FS509T switches provide eight 10/100 links, with a single 1000Base-T uplink port.

D-Link's 1000Base-T switch, the DGS1008-T, comes with eight Layer 2, unmanaged copper Gigabit ports which can also autosense 10M-bit/sec and Fast Ethernet links.

Netgear's 16- and 24-port switches and D-Link's eight-port box could be used to connect servers in a small data center, while Netgear's two 10/100 switches are designed to connect workgroups and uplink to a backbone over Gigabit Ethernet.

Netgear also announced the GA302T, a 32-bit, copper Gigabit Ethernet NIC that is targeted for desktop users who require 1000M bit/sec network connections, such as database file analysts, graphic artists or computer-assisted design engineers.

While running Gigabit Ethernet over Cat 5 wire has its limitations - such as a 328-foot maximum cable reach and incompatibility with older copper cabling types - companies are starting to use the technology for running Gigabit connections to desktops, connecting workgroup switches to a local server or for server connections in a data center.

Low-cost copper Gigabit server adapters (some costing less than $150), now available from companies such as 3Com, Asant�, Intel and Netgear, have helped 1000Base-T server connectivity catch on.

With the average Gigabit Ethernet switch port costing about $544, according to third-quarter 2001 numbers from the Dell'Oro Group, companies can see big savings by going with 1000Base-T to add Gigabit Ethernet to segments of a network.

According to Dell'Oro, more customers are buying into 1000Base-T technology, as shipments of copper Gigabit Ethernet ports were up 10% in the third quarter of 2001.

The GS516T is priced at $1,590, while the GS524T costs $2,190. The FS309T and FS509T workgroup switches cost $200 and $290, respectively, while the GA302T NIC costs $90. D-Link's DGS1008-T costs $880. All products are available now.