Gigabit Ethernet adoption expected to soar
Boosted by upcoming products based on the newly approved copper 1000Base-T standard, gigabit Ethernet adoption will surge into next year with an expected 40-per-cent growth rate, according to a recent study by Infonetics Research Inc. of San Jose, Calif. Mike McConnell, director of enterprise management and LAN programs at Infonetics, attributed the 40-per-cent growth in gigabit Ethernet to IEEE 802.3ab, the new 1000Base-T standard that allows companies to use existing copper wire in buildings for gigabit Ethernet, as well as cheaper prices. In other findings, eighty per cent of companies surveyed said they will adopt Layer 3 switches by 2000, but McConnell said they won’t replace routers for bigger backbones. Voice traffic on the LAN continues to make little headway into companies; in fact, user scepticism is growing, according to the study. But voice traffic on the LAN should happen in the next three to four years, with the initial steps taking place on wide-area networks first, McConnell said.