Army Launches Gigabit Ethernet Network Powered by 3Com Layer 3 Switch

The US Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (Sbccom) is initiating an ultra-fast enterprise network standardized based on 3Com Corp.'s (Santa Clara, CA) CoreBuilder switches. The 1500-user local area network (LAN) will use a Gigabit Ethernet backbone and Gigabit Ethernet uplinks to connect servers and users.

The network is designed to meet Sbccom 's increasing need for higher bandwidth to support research and information sharing. Upon completion, the fully switched network will accelerate the organization's use of Microsoft Exchange e-mail, file transfers, and print services via the CoreBuilder 3500 systems' connections.

The new network will consist of up to 10 CoreBuilder 3500 switches in the network backbone, furnishing Gigabit Ethernet links to servers and to the latest 3Com SuperStack II 1100 (10Base-T) and 3300 (10/100 Mbps) workgroup switches located in building wiring closets. The SuperStack II switches will provide switched Ethernet and Fast Ethernet connectivity to users' PCs employing 3Com's Fast EtherLink 10/100 Mbps network interface cards (NICs). 3Com's Total Control remote access concentrators will provide ISDN connectivity for remote sites lacking fiber optic links. Using 3Com's OfficeConnect 500-series remote access routers, employees at those locations will gain rapid dial-in access to the main SBCCOM network.

CoreBuilder 7000 ATM chassis-based switches are already installed at several campus facilities. Sbccom uses 3Com's Transcend Enterprise Manager network management solution to monitor and configure the entire network from a single management console. The software's range of features, which include virtual LAN (VLAN) configuration and remote monitoring (RMON), will enable command technicians to better safeguard the network's health by taking a more proactive stance toward network management. The command also plans to take advantage of 3Com's Express service contract for dial-up support and its Guardian service plan for 24-hour hardware maintenance.