Conference 7.286::fddi

76.0. "SynOptics announces FDDI over STP" by AKO569::JOY (Get a life!) Tue Jun 19 1990 15:46

Mountain View, Ca. - SynOptics Communications, Inc. last week said it has 
developed a way to substitute shielded twisted pair wire for fiber optic 
cable runs to user desktops in 100Mbit/sec FDDI local-area networks.
   Use of IBM Type 1 shielded twisted pair to link desktops to wiring 
closets instead of the more expensive fiber could lower FDDI connection 
costs by 60% or more, according to Michael Clair, SynOptics' vice-president 
of sales and marketing.
   It currently costs about $11,650 for a single FDDI desktop workstation 
connection using fiber optic equipment, including cable, adapter, connector 
and intelligent wiring hub, according to Forrester Reasearch, Inc. a 
Cambridge, Mass., market research firm. Forrester Research predicts that 
this price will drop to $2000 by 1994 as the demand increases and the 
market matures.
   Clair contends that SynOptics' technology breakthrough - which it will 
represent at this week's ANSI X3T9.5 FDDI quarterly committee meeting in 
Wichita, Kansas - will enable it to support the full 100 Mbit/sec speed and 
throughput of FDDI over standard shielded twisted pair wiring, thereby 
lowering connection costs.
   "Using shielded twisted-pair wiring, we can now cut the cost of bringing 
FDDI to the desktop down to $4000 per connection," Clair said. "This means 
that users won't have to wait four years for the price to drop to the point 
where FDDI is a viable desktop technology for midsize users. Right now, 
only the largest users, such as brokerage houses, can afford the cost of 
FDDI at the desktop."
   SynOptics will incorporate its shielded twisted-pair support for FDDI 
into its existing LattisNet System 3000 intelligent hub within the next six 
months, Clair said. Additionally, he said, SynOptics will propose that its 
technology be incorporated as an alternate transmission standard in the 
ANSI X3T9.5 FDDI specification.
   SynOptics' shielded twisted-pair FDDI transmission scheme conforms to 
both the ANSI TR41.8 and the IBM cabling system specifications, which 
require a maximum distance of 330 feet, or about 100 meters, from the 
wiring closet to the desktop, Clair said.
   He also noted that SynOptics has engineered its technology to be fully 
compliant with the three already completed hardware portions of the 
standard - the media access control layer, physical layer and physical 
medium dependencies layer. [Ed. - hard to be compliant when you're using a 
non-standard transmission medium if you ask me]
   "It's a fial-safe product," Clair said. "Everything we've done is in 
full compliance with the standard. We're simply proposing an alternate 
transmission mechanism engineered according to the X3T9.5 standard, which 
replaces fiber-optic components with less expensive copper-based (shielded 
twisted-pair) wiring. [Ed. - the truth comes out!]
   "We're confident that once we explain the technology and demonstrate it, 
the X3T9.5 Committee will embrace it," he said. [Ed. - I'll be interested 
to hear what happened at the meeting from our reps]

Replacing optical with off-the-shelf
   While Clair declined to divulge specific engineering details, he did say 
that SynOptics has found a way to eliminate the electro-optic components 
with off-the-shelf electronic parts. The optical components account for the 
largest expense in FDDI products.
   "We've replaced the electro-optic components with standard drivers, 
which will move the data across the shielded twisted-pair wire at the same 
100Mbit/sec speed," Clair said.
   SynOptics will license its shielded twisted-pair specifications free of 
charge to FDDI chipset and adapter vendors.
   The availability of the SynOptics specifications will enable these 
companies for desktop-to-desktop and desktop-to-hub FDDI connections.
   "They'll sell the adapters and connectors that support FDDI transmission 
over shielded twisted-pair, and we'll incorporate the same support into our 
LattisNet System 3000," Clair said. The LattisNet hub also supports 
Ethernet, token-ring and fiber-optic FDDI transmissions.
   "The economics lean toward the proliferation of the IBM Type I shielded 
twisted-pair cabling because it's so much cheaper and prices will continue 
to decline as the market matures, but we'll support both fiber optic and 
twisted pair," Clair said.
   Similarly, ChipCom Corp. of Southboro, Mass., announced plans last week 
to support FDDI to the desktop over shielded and unshielded twisted-pair, 
according to Dave Fowler, the company's vice-president of marketing.
   ChipCom made only a technology announcement, however, and did not 
present productivity availabilty dates or pricing. The company will also 
present its technical details about FDDI over twisted pair at the ANSI 
X3T9.5 committee meeting this week with the hope that a working group will 
soon be established, Fowler said.

(Network World, June 18, 1990) 
    

    Can someone tell us what happened at the ANSI meeting this week around
    this?
    
    Debbie
    

Synoptics gave a presentation; so did Chipcom, which issued a similar
announcement covering both shielded and unshielded twisted pair.  These
are "technology feasibility" announcements, not product announcements.

Two working groups were established (they will meet early August) to
collect requirements and proposals for (1) twisted pair copper PMD,
(2) low cost fiber PMD.

	paul