[comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc] PC/IP Scorecard - Latest revision

HANK@BARILVM.BITNET (Hank Nussbacher) (04/19/88)

<I am not on the list so send updates directly to me>.

                         The Pc/Ip Scorecard

                        revision 3:  03/10/88
                        ---------------------

    We   are   the   process   of   trying   to   decide which Pc/Ip
implementation  would  be  the   best.   After  asking  around   the
overwhelming reply  I have  received has  been, "If  you ever find a
comparison study, I would love to  see it too".  That is why  I have
decided to create the Pc/Ip Scorecard.

    This scorecard will  be like a  PC Magazine analysis  of of hard
disks or printers.  But  I need help in  filling in the boxes.   So,
here is what the scorecard looks like.  Please send me your  replies
and  I  will  integrate  all  answers  and  comments and publish the
finalized scorecard in the weeks to come.

|Revision 3: Any implementation that has not had any sort of comment
|            made about it over the past 3 weeks has been removed.
|            There are still plenty of gaps in the ScoreCard.  Please
|            help out.


    This first table is called "Must Have".

Vendor      TFTP  POP ICMP SMTP VT-  3270 FTP   ARP  UDP max  cost
                                 100                     FTP  ($)
-----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
Beame      | Yes| No | Yes| No |    | No |    | Yes| Yes|    |    |
CMU        | Yes| No | Yes| No |    | No | No | Yes| Yes|    |   0|
Excelan    | No | No | Yes| No | Yes| No | Yes| Yes| Yes| 42k| 250|cpu
FTP        | Yes| No | Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes|160k| 400|cpu
FUSION     | Yes| No | Yes| Yes| Yes| No | Yes| Yes| Yes| 40k| 300|
IBM        | Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| No | Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes|114k| 300|cpu
KA9Q       | No | No | Yes| Yes| No | No | Yes| Yes| Yes|    |   0|
MIT        | Yes| No | Yes| No | No | No | No | Yes| Yes|  5k|  50|site
NCSA       | No | No | Yes| No | Yes| No | No | No | No | 30k|   0|
Stanford   | No | Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| No | Yes| Yes| Yes| 50k| 100|site
SUN        | No | Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| 24k| 300|cpu
UB         |    |    | Yes|    |    |    |    | Yes| Yes|    |    |
Wollongong | Yes| No |    |    |    |    |    |    |    | 25k| 395|cpu

    The "max FTP" column is for the fastest FTP to a Pc (*not* from)
seen by a user (in Kbytes/sec).  It makes no difference in this table
which machine was at the other end (obviously the faster the machine
at the other end - the better).

    The  following  table  lists  the  most  popular  Ethernet cards
available and whether the Pc/Ip implementation works with the stated
card.

Vendor      3com  Excelan  Interlan  UB    WD   3Com  UB NIC
            3C501 EXOS205  NI5010   2273A 8003  3C523  PS/2
-----------+-----+--------+--------+-----+-----+-----+------+
Beame      | Yes |  No    |  No    | No  |     |     |      |
CMU        | Yes |  No    |  Yes   | No  |     |     |      |
Excelan    | No  |  Yes   |  No    | No  | No  | No  | No   |
FTP        | Yes |  Yes   |  Yes   | Yes | Yes | No  | No   |
FUSION     | Yes |  No    |  Yes   | No  | Yes | No  | No   |
IBM        | Yes |  No    |  No    | Yes | No  | Yes | Yes  |
KA9Q       | Yes |  No    |  No    | No  | No  | No  | No   |
MIT        | Yes |  No    |  Yes   | No  | No  | No  | No   |
NCSA       | Yes |  No    |  No    | No  |     |     |      |
Stanford   | Yes |  No    |  No    | No  | Yes | Yes |      |
Sun        | Yes |  No    |  Yes   | Yes | Yes | Yes | No   |
UB         |     |        |        |     |     |     |      |
Wollongong | Yes |        |        |     |     |     |      |

    This table is  called the "Nice  to Have" table.   The functions
listed  here  are  not  mandatory   but  are  useful  in  a   Tcp/Ip
environment:

Vendor      name time fing whoi  NFS gate srce Net  ping SLIP
            srvr                     way  code BIOS
-----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
Beame      | Yes| Yes| Yes| No |    |    |    |    | Yes| No |    |    |
CMU        | Yes| Yes| Yes| No | No | No | Yes|    | Yes| Yes|    |    |
Excelan    | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes| No | No |    |    |
FTP        | Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| No | Yes| No | No | Yes| Yes|    |    |
FUSION     | No | Yes| Yes| Yes| No | No | Yes| No | Yes| No |    |    |
IBM        | Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| No | Yes| Yes| No | Yes| No |    |    |
KA9Q       | No | No | No | No | No | Yes| Yes| No | Yes| Yes|    |    |
MIT        | Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| No | No | Yes| No | Yes| No |    |    |
NCSA       | Yes| No | No | No | No | No | Yes|    | Yes| No |    |    |
Stanford   | No | Yes| Yes| Yes| No | No | No |    | Yes| No |    |    |
Sun        | Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| No | No | No | Yes| Yes|    |    |
UB         |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    | Yes|    |    |    |
Wollongong |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |

FTP Software is OEMed to BICC ISOLAN, Fibronics, Proteon, cisco, Scope,
Spider Systems and Micom-Interlan.

kzm@TWG.COM (04/26/88)

Hank,

As you know, my previous message to you announced the capabilities
of Release 3.2 of WIN/TCP for DOS.  This release is just now finishing 
its beta-testing and becoming available to customers, so it is now
appropriate to incorporate them into your scorecard.  I apologise for 
delaying its completion.

This release has the following capabilities :


Vendor      TFTP  POP ICMP SMTP VT-  3270 FTP   FTP  ARP  UDP  max   cost
                                 100      Clnt Srvr            FTP   ($)
-----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+----+
Wollongong | Yes| No | Yes| Yes| Yes| No | Yes| No | Yes| Yes|193KBs| 395|



Vendor      3com  Excelan  Interlan  UB    WD   3Com  UB NIC 3Com
            3C501 EXOS205  NI5010   2273A 8003  3C523  PS/2  3C503
-----------+-----+--------+--------+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+
Wollongong | Yes |  No    |  Yes   | No  | No  | Yes |  No  | Yes |



Vendor      -name-srvr time fing whoi  NFS gate srce  --NetBIOS-- ping SLIP
            DNS IEN116                      way  code 1001/2 link
-----------+----+-----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+
Wollongong | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes| neg.|  No | Yes | Yes| No |



Notes :

1. I have expanded a couple of columns where I felt there was some 
ambiguity in the (necessarily abbreviated) column-header, for the specific 
purpose of being more accurate.  You will know what your column
headers mean, and thus are in a better position to judge which answer to
use in the non-expanded form.

2. The 3C501 has been the ubiquitous card up until 3Com's recent move 
to replace it with the 3C503.  If the 501 is still obtainable from a few
sources, it won't be for very much longer.  I think this makes a strong 
case for the 503's inclusion in your list.

3. The 193KBs is an average figure using a PS/2 Model 60 (we see occasional
transfers of over 200KBs).

Keith McCloghrie
The Wollongong Group.