sunflash-Distributed to mailing list sun/NC/north-carolina sunflash-Send requests, problems to owner-sunflash@suntri.east.sun.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SBus Quad Ethernet Controller SunFLASH Vol 60 #3 December 1993 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 60.03 SBus Quad Ethernet Controller o SMCC delivers low-cost multi-port Ethernet card o The SBus Quad Ethernet Controller (SQEC) provides four fully buffered Ethernet ports o The Ethernet channels operate independently at 10 Mbps o The SQEC meet the needs of customers who wish to divide their network into multiple Ethernet segment for better performance ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) introduces a low-cost multi-port Ethernet Controller card that will meet the needs of customers who wish to divide their local area network into multiple Ethernet segments for better performance and improved connectivity. The new product, SBus Quad Ethernet Controller (SQEC), provides four fully buffered twisted-pair Ethernet ports. The SQEC enables each of the Ethernet channel to operate independently and concurrently at 10 Mbits per second. The SQEC can be used to partition heavily loaded networks into numerous smaller networks. This will allow for higher performance and reliability since fewer systems will be affected if there is very heavy traffic on any single physical network or if a fault is encountered. In addition, SQEC can be used as a gateway or router. It is now possible to use a low powered machine as a gateway between four different networks with one SQEC card. This will help to increase routing reliability by allowing more than one path between two networks. It can also help offload servers that can now be used to do what they are intended for; computing, database functions, and file server tasks. Features -------- o Single-width SBus card form factor o Four independent Ethernet channels running at 10 Mb/sec. each o Full packet buffering for transmit and receive packets o Supports 10BaseT (twisted-pair Ethernet) o AUI (thicknet) and Coax (thinnet) can be supported via external third-party adapter boxes o Link integrity LED for each channel o Provides operations of up to 100 meters without repeaters o Compliant with ANSI/IEEE std 802.3 CSMA/CD physical layer specification Benefits -------- o The SQEC improves performance and reliability of the network o SQEC usage results in better utilization of the system and network resources o SQEC is a cost effective option for segmenting network Applications ------------ o Segments heavily loaded net into many smaller nets o Enables destop systems to act as router or gateway between four different networks HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE CONSIDERATIONS ------------------------------------ The SQEC card is intended to be used for any Sun(TM) SPARC(R) based system with an available SBus slot running with the Solaris(R) 2.3 or later operating environment. It is compatible with OpenBoot PROM level 2.0 or later. An on-board FCode PROM provides configuration support that identifies the SQEC card to the system and contains selftest routines. QUESTION AND ANSWERS -------------------- Q: What is the SBus Quad Ethernet Controller (SQEC)? A: The SBus Quad Ethernet Controller card is a add-on option providing four fully-buffered twisted-pair Ethernet ports (RJ45) on a single width SBus card. Q: What applications are driving SQEC? A: The SQEC card can be used to partition heavily loaded networks into many little ones. This will allow for higher performance and reliability since fewer systems will be affected if there is very heavy traffic on any single physical net or a fault is encountered. In addition, SQEC can be used as a gateway or router between four different networks. Q: What are the features of SQEC? A: The SQEC offers four independent Ethernet channels running at 10 Mb/sec., provides full packet buffering for transmit and receive packets, and contains link integrity LED for each of the four channel. Q: Does SQEC support anything other than twisted-pair Ethernet? A: The SQEC provides 4 RJ45 connections for 10Base-T (twisted-pair) support. AUI (thicknet) and Coax (thinnet) can be supported via external third-party adapter boxes. AVAILABILITY ------------ The products can be ordered now on and will begin shipping November 8, 1993. U.S. PRICING AND ORDERING INFORMATION ------------------------------------- THIS PRODUCT APPEAR IN BOTH THE END USER AND RESELLER PRICE LIST Order List Discount Sun Spectrum Description Number Price Category Silver Price ======================================================================== SBus Quad Ethernet Controller X1058A $995 A N/C* * No charge (c) 1993 Sun Microsystems, Inc. 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