PARIS, France, Oct. 25, 1993 -- Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ-CSCO), andLanOptics Ltd. (NASDAQ-LNOPF) have teamed up to jointly develop remoteaccess technology that integrates routing and hub functionality fordistributed corporate local-area network (LAN) applications.
The first integrated remote access product will be available in thefirst half of 1994, and will combine technology from LanOptics' family ofintelligent internetworking concentrators and the Cisco 3000 series offixed-configuration access routers.
The companies will also be working on the integration of theirmanagement systems on multiple management platforms. This high level ofintegration of the router and hub technology will greatly simplify theinstallation and management of remote branch networks and significantlyreduce ownership and maintenance costs of networking equipment at remotesites.
"Many organizations have delayed extending their enterprise networks tobranch offices due to the high costs and poor management options associatedwith separate platforms for hubs and routers at remote sites," said EliFruchter, LanOptics general manager. "Our forthcoming router/hub productswill address these issues and spur organizations to accelerate their remoteinstallation plans."
John Chambers, Cisco senior vice president, said, "Integratingfunctionality to reduce cost of ownership has emerged as a key issue atnetwork access points even more than on the corporate backbone. We soughtout LanOptics for this partnership because of its unique strengths inaccess hub technology, notably in the areas of hub management and TokenRing features."
The integral, fully functional Cisco 3000 router will use the samemultiprotocol routing and bridging software standard across all Ciscoproducts, supporting Ethernet, Token Ring, synchronous serial and ISDN BRIinterfaces, as well as access to wide-area network services such asdedicated T1/E1 facilities, packet-switched networks (X.25, Frame Relay,SMDS) and circuit-switched networks. Based on an MC68030 processor, theCisco 3000 uses Flash memory for fast and reliable software updating andmaintenance.
The integrated router/hub will support LanOptics' powerfulfault-tolerant features for Token Ring environments, including Speed Watch,which limits network access to users with specified data rates; FaultWatch, which disconnects faulty adapters; and Passive Fault Tolerant mode,which provides uninterrupted network operation during power failure.
LanOptics Ltd. is a leading supplier of intelligent multiprotocol hubs,branch internetworking hubs and related network management systems designedprimarily for the IBM environment. LanOptics places particular emphasis onoffering unique fault-tolerant integrated management solutions for branchoffices. LanOptics is traded over the counter in the United States underthe NASDAQ symbol LNOPF.
