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| Broadcom Delivers Fully Integrated 48-Port Fast Ethernet Switch Broadcom Corporation has announced a new family in its ROBOSwitch series of products that includes the industry's first fully integrated 48-port Fast Ethernet (FE) single-chip switch. The new family of Broadcom switches provides enterprise-level features and WebSuperSmart network management for managed and lightly managed small-to-medium business (SMB) networks. The 48-port FE switch offers double the port count of existing FE solutions, plus integrated 10/100 PHYs, to address the requirements of the cost-conscious SMB market. Fast Ethernet solutions in 24-port configurations have been very popular with customers worldwide, and now there is increasing demand for cost- effective 48-port solutions with even more robust "intelligent" switching capability at lower cost points. Broadcom's new Fast Ethernet switch family is based on eight generations of ROBOSwitch innovation. Its rich feature set with built-in quality of service (QoS) enables SMB networks to handle mixed network traffic (i.e. voice, video and data) and to support Level 2+ managed and lightly managed network applications. Announced products are the new ROBOSwitch family, which includes the BCM5348, the only fully integrated 48-port FE switch available on the market today with 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports and 24 integrated 10/100 PHYs on a single chip. The new family also includes the BCM5347, a 24-port version for customers that desire the added features and functionality of the BCM5348, but do not require the additional port density. Focusing on SMB network requirements, Broadcom has added new features including support for advanced access control lists (ACLs) for security and double tagging, a key feature for traffic aggregation, while keeping the cost down through device integration. The new ROBOSwitch family utilizes WebSuperSmart software, an advanced Web-based network management solution. SMB customers demand a standard out-of-the-box management solution that is easy to configure and requires no long-term maintenance. Many current Web-based solutions targeted at the SMB market are basic applications that do not provide automatic security, IEEE 802.1x, high-performance spanning tree, remote management or Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) snooping. The WebSuperSmart software provides all of these features, simplifying network setup and enabling cost savings through reduced network maintenance. The key features of the new ROBOSwitch family include: o A built-in compact field processor that enables ACLs, a key security feature for FE switches o 24 integrated 10/100 PHYs o Support for Power over Ethernet (PoE), which enables the deployment of technologies such as VoIP and Wi-Fi networking o Full-featured, integrated Level 2+ switch for managed and lightly managed applications o Wire-speed (13 Million packets per second (Mpps)), non-blocking, full-duplex system-on-a-chip (SOC) o Common hardware and software architecture for 24-port and 48-port Fast Ethernet designs with 4 Gigabit uplinks, enabling faster time-to-market for SMB customers. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Networking News :: home page |