[comp.protocols.appletalk] Kinetics - No Competition?

fitz@RODAN.FRC.RI.CMU.EDU (Kerien Fitzpatrick) (03/31/89)

My general curiosity is why there aren't direct competitors
to Kinetics FastPath.  Cayman exists, but it comes from what
seems to be a different mindset - all software/hardware contained
on one box driving the price to be substantially higher than
that of the FastPath.  There seems to be a decent market for
this type of equipment and the Kinetics products are far from
perfect.  We use them because they do provide the minimal requirements
that we have and at the time they were the only game in town.

What's the scoop?  Are there some players in this game that I am
not aware about and should consider?  We are having too much trouble
with our FastPath 2 & 3 that we have and are looking for replacements.
The FastPath 4s seem our only choice because the Cayman boxes are
to expensive given that the only plus I see is the NFS translation.
I don't have much problem with booting the box from a Mac or an
ethernet-based workstation.

Kerien Fitzpatrick
Field Robotics Center
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
(412)268-6564
Arpanet: fitz@frc.ri.cmu.edu

Disclaimer:
Of course these are not the views of my employer.  I am sure they
shudder at the thought that I have access to the net.

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