Herndon, VA, April 30, 1997 - Major networking vendors, Cisco Systems, FORESystems and Newbridge Networks announced today the first open demonstration ofMultiprotocol Over ATM (MPOA) interoperability testing by participating in the"MPOA Interoperability Demonstration," being staged at Networld+Interop in LasVegas, May 6-8, 1997. In addition, leading networking vendors Bay Networks,Cabletron Systems, GN Nettest, Harris and Jeffries, IBM, Interphase Corporation,Madge Networks, NET2NET, Network General, RADCOM Equipment, Trillium DigitalSystems, Wandel & Goltermann Technologies, and Xylan Corporation are committed tosupporting ongoing interoperability testing efforts for MPOA-based solutions thatenable enterprise customers to take advantage of a standards-based nextgeneration Layer 3 switching architecture. MPOA is the only mechanism availabletoday for developing high performance standards-based Layer 3 switchingsolutions.
"Customers are beginning to need significantly more routing performance, oftenacross multi-vendor environments. This event is a significant step forward forthe user community and networking industry overall. This show of support from themajor networking players is evidence of the true interoperability that customersare looking for today," said Dave Passmore, President of Decisys, Inc. "Thestandards-based Layer 3 switching technology that MPOA provides will allow usersto significantly increase performance and deploy new applications such asmultimedia and IP multicast and standards-based Virtual LANs (VLANs).Interoperability of this kind gives users the freedom to choose a multi-vendorsolution with the confidence that the products will perform seamlessly with eachother."
The MPOA framework is designed to interoperate with standard network layerprotocols such as IP and IPX using routing protocols including OSPF (OpenShortest Path First) and RIP (Routing Information Protocol). Building on LANEmulation (LANE) specifications, MPOA provides a seamless migration for legacynetworking infrastructures allowing users to protect existing investments. ALayer 3 switching solution provides users with the low latency and performanceneeded to build sophisticated enterprise intranets.
The industry's first MPOA interoperability demonstration can be seen at theNetworld+Interop show in Las Vegas, May 6-8 at booth # 2491. As a first step indemonstrating continued commitment to emerging standards, the participatingnetworking vendors will exhibit multimedia applications residing on multiplenetworks built from equipment from different vendors. Cisco, FORE and NewbridgeNetworks will highlight the benefits of a standards-based networking solution bydemonstrating their interoperable Layer 3 switching products.
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