From: Robert E. Seastrom[SMTP:rs@bifrost.seastrom.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 10, 1996 3:19 AM
From: Jim Browning <jfbb@atmnet.net>>> Oh, and by the way, given that the local loop provider has OC-48
SONET
>> provisioned to this particular location, we could just as easily
have
>> provisioned the connection to our backbone at OC12 as opposed to
OC3.
Did
>> I miss the Cisco announcement of an OC12 IP-SONET card?
>
>You may wish to discuss an NDA presentation on the forthcoming
>generation of routers from each of Cisco, Juniper and Bay Networks.Again, my post was based upon your assertion that this could be done
today.
I sincerely hope that a new generation of routers is forthcoming asap
that
can match ATM speeds.
So, Jim, since your metric is what can be done _today_, could you tell
us just exactly how many ATM switch vendors can offer me _working_
(not beta) OC12 interface cards _today_? The only one that I can
think of off the top of my head that I'd be willing to risk my
credibility as an engineer with management by going with is Fore. Of
course, that assumes that I'd be willing to risk my credibility as an
engineer by spec'ing ATM in the first place, which is a shaky
proposition to say the least.
One is more than zero (which is what is available today with other
technologies), and if you refer to Sean's original post, it was also
focused on a single, albeit different, vendor. As the saying goes; what's
good for the goose, is good for the gander. And BTW, the _today_ metric is
Sean's, not mine..
You can flame ATM all you want, but you can _not_ credibly claim that
router technology can _today_ provide _everything_ that can be done by
adding ATM to the equation. Feel free to question the technology, as that
leads to improvement. But please don't respond to legitimate argument with
obfuscation. Sean made a statement. I challenged it with specific
(working today) examples. The only arguments put forth in response can be
paraphrased as "we don't need that capability on the Internet", and "ATM
sucks". Neither one refutes my argument.