[2591] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Network World article Raises New Questions on T-3 Network
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Erik E. Fair" (Your Friendly Postm)
Thu Mar 19 00:42:32 1992
From: "Erik E. Fair" (Your Friendly Postmaster) <fair@apple.com>
In-Reply-To: <9203190329.AA20147@sci.sci.ccny.cuny.edu>
To: com-priv@psi.com
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 92 21:40:29 -0800
Dan Schlitt's description of the ANS C-NSS structure is the same as
what I heard at the IETF meeting in Atlanta last August. It would not
surprise me to find that the reporter had misunderstood the description
that ANS gave her, despite being from what might be loosely termed a
"trade journal."
The cisco AGS+ router has a proprietary 500Mbit/sec backplane called
"cBus", into which you can plug up to four interface cards. The
available interface cards include FDDI, a 6-port Ethernet, and High
Speed Serial Interface (HSSI) for T3. Apple is using cisco AGS+ routers
throughout the Apple Engineering Network, including one which is
routing TCP/IP and AppleTalk traffic between two FDDI rings (our two
backbones), so I would be surprised to hear that a cisco AGS+ couldn't
handle T3.
It is the case, as I understand it, that the CCITT V.35 interface is
good for only a few megabits per second, which is why cisco Systems,
in cooperation with some T3 comm gear vendors, spec'd and published
HSSI. This is what you get when you buy cisco T3 interfaces. These
interfaces will only go into cisco AGS+ routers, on the cBus. This
also indicates that the reporter misunderstood ANS.
Pretty much all the experts are at the IETF meeting this week in San Diego.
Erik E. Fair apple!fair fair@apple.com
