Gadzoox Introduces 2Gb Switch - Gadzoox Networks' Slingshot 4218 - Product Announcement

Computer Technology Review, April, 2001 by Christine Chudnow

Gadzoox Networks, a supplier of intelligent storage networking products, has introduced Slingshot 4218, a 2 Gigabit open fabric Storage Area Network (SAN) switch. The Slingshot 4218, the first member of the Slingshot family to be announced, doubles the speed of current SAN switches.

The Slingshot 4218 supports several new open fabric standards, including FCSW-2. This standard, which includes the FSPF routing protocol, enables switches from different vendors to work together smoothly in a heterogeneous environment.

The Slingshot 4218 enables customers to build a complete 2Gb SAN infrastructure and boost performance in their business-critical applications, such as online transaction processing (OLTP), high-availability clusters, and back-up and restore. Data-intensive industries, such as insurance, medical, and video and audio production can leverage the higher speed for their day-to-day data requirements, while other industries, including storage service providers (SSPs) and Internet service providers (ISPs), can use Slingshot to double the bandwidth at a significantly lower cost than current 1Gb switches.

Product Highlights include 18 ports in a one unit (1U) form factor, a non-blocking architecture, auto-sensing ports for both loop and fabric, automatic speed negotiation between 1Gb and 2Gb on a port-by-port basis, and load sharing trunks. Other advanced features include remote power systems, Fibre Channel trunking capabilities, and IP broadcast features.

Gadzoox has deliberately priced the Slingshot 4218 at under $1000 per port, about half the cost of comparable 1Gb open fabric switches. The switch is shipping with management software and full fabric and loop support, and is available for OEM qualification.