SCEF0003@WSUVM1.CSC.WSU.EDU ("James N. Petersen") (12/12/90)
We have received word that AT&T is recommending that their 10baseT ethernet boards be upgraded at a cost of $160 per board. Does anyone know what this upgrade provides? Is it worth the cost? I would expect other vendors to have complete 10baseT boards for about this price soon.
jbreeden@netcom.UUCP (John Breeden) (12/13/90)
In article <9012111655.aa15277@louie.udel.edu> SCEF0003@WSUVM1.CSC.WSU.EDU ("James N. Petersen") writes: >We have received word that AT&T is recommending that their 10baseT >ethernet boards be upgraded at a cost of $160 per board. Does anyone >know what this upgrade provides? Is it worth the cost? I would expect >other vendors to have complete 10baseT boards for about this price soon. AT&T, UB and HP all produced TP ethernet based on 10baseT drafts prior to the inclusion of the Link Integrity in later drafts. Therefore, all products shipped by these vendors before the adoption of Link Integrity in the 10baseT draft are lacking the Link Integrity function. What AT&T is offering is to replace (not upgrade) their early 10baseT draft product (non LI) with boards that fully support the 10baseT standard (LI included) for $160 instead of the $445 list, single quantity price. Soapbox on..... An interesting sidenote is that Link Integrity is the only interoperability difference between AT&T's HP's and UB's early products and products conforming to the 10baseT "standard". As a result, MOST of the vendors who ship 10baseT today include a switch/jumper that allows Link Integrity to be defeated on a port by port basis. This allows backwards compatabilty and interoperability between 10baseT and the earlier draft products produced by AT&T, HP and UB (and a few others). In most cases there's no need to trade in the cards (you can defeat LI at the hub), unless you have hubs that lack this feature (we did look for this feature - right? :-). The "real-world" importance of Link Integrity is questionable anyway (at least to the degree that some harp it). I've had a number of wire runs that have had slight damage done to them when installed. They passed Link Integrity just fine (light stays lit) but lost 10-20% of the packets sent through the wire. At best, it lets you know you have SOME KIND of connection to another device but in no way does it let you know how useable it is (a 10-20% loss is unexceptable). It also lets you know who went home early (they turned off their PC and you got a Link Integrity failure). You still need (and always will) a packet generator, "sniffer" and TDR to properly install and maintain the wire plant. Soapbox off ...... So the bottom line is the offer is to replace AT&T's PRE-10baseT STANDARD cards (non LI) with 10baseT STANDARD cards (LI included). At least AT&T offers a trade in value on old ethernet cards..what other vendor does? Try convincing WD or 3Com to except a trade of their Lattisnet cards for 10baseT cards :-) BTW: All AT&T Starlan10 cards shipped after ~September 1 have been 10baseT STANDARD (have LI). Let me know when you find a vendor that sells a 10baseT board for $160 list, single quantity, that conforms to FCC (think about it). -- John Robert Breeden, netcom!jbreeden@apple.com, apple!netcom!jbreeden, ATTMAIL:!jbreeden ------------------------------------------------------------------- "The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from. If you don't like any of them, you just wait for next year's model."