Looking to make good on its commitment to Ethernet, IBM next week will announce the addition of five inexpensive Ethernet workgroup switches to its 8275 line.
Big Blue claims that these homegrown switches will be among the cheapest in the industry -- $303 per fiber port. The switches will also have the potential for Gigabit Ethernet upgrades.
The two new product lines include the 8275 Fast Ethernet Workgroup Switch Model 300 series, with copper and fiber ports that link to backbones or servers and the 8275 Model 200 series for low cost Ethernet connectivity in medium sized networks or branch offices.
The 8275 Model 322 has 12 copper 100M bit/sec and 8 100M bit/sec fiber ports; the 8275 Model 318 has 16 100M bit/sec fiber ports; and the 8275 Model 362 has 24 10/100M bit/sec autosensing copper ports.
The switches also sport two optional slots for Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. They also come with standard SNMP and Java management and VLAN support. The 300 series will be available on March 19, and will cost $119 per copper port.
The 8275 Model 217 has 16 10M bit/sec ports; the 8275 Model 225 has 24 10M bit/sec ports. The switches also have one Fast Ethernet port and two slots for 10/100 modules.
The 8275 Model 200 series will also be available on March 19, and will cost $56 per port.
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