Networking

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Cisco Catalyst 3750
Cisco Systems
Excellent (8.7)
Cost: Catalyst 3750G-24TS, $4,995; Catalyst 3750-48TS, $9,995
Bottom Line: This switch represents the logical progression of Cisco's respected 3550 line. With a new stacking architecture capable of gigabit-worthy throughput and updated management features sets aimed at either SMBs or large enterprises, the 3750 is well-positioned to continue on as king of the wiring closet.

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Dell PowerConnect 3300 Series
Dell
Very Good (8.1)
Cost: 3348 switch, $949; 3324 switch, $499
Bottom Line: Dell's new line of managed switches has some rough edges, especially in the Web interface, but packs in normally expensive functionality for a low price. The free Network Manager management console is a very promising step toward low/no-cost complete network management.

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Force10 Networks E600
Force10 Networks,
Very Good (7.8)
Cost: $324,000, as tested
Bottom Line: Force10's E600 switch chassis is capable of full 10Gbps wire-rate throughput across all ports even with management overhead. The switch's rough edges are evident in relatively high latency numbers — although these have improved dramatically — and a lack of dedicated switch management software.

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Foundry Networks FastIron 800
Foundry Networks
Very Good (8.3)
Cost: $368,935
Bottom Line: Foundry’s FastIron represents an established chassis product’s response to 10GbE technology. Although the switch very nicely integrates 10GbE with its excellent existing network management features, it will require some chassis re-engineering to make full use of 10GbE’s bandwidth capability.

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Procket Networks PRO/8801 High-Availability Router
Procket Networks
Excellent (8.7)
Cost: $390,000, as tested
Bottom Line: This high-speed, specialized router is designed to sit at the center of large enterprise or ISP networks. There are few frills or unnecessary features, but there is plenty of switching speed for high volumes of IP traffic.

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Web Application Acceleration
Redline Networks E|X 3250 Web I/O Accelerator
Redline Networks
Excellent (9.5)
Cost: $29,995
Bottom Line: Redline's appliance offloads SSL processing, compresses HTTP data, and consolidates Web server sessions to substantially reduce network traffic and the load on servers that need to support SSL. It also speeds Web server responses, which will make site visitors happy.

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Warp 2063e Application Acceleration Appliance
Warp Solutions
Very Good (7.9)
Cost: Starts at $80,000 per unit
Bottom Line: This relatively expensive appliance can improve the number of users a Web site can support and average user access times. The 2063e goes beyond static content caching to include dynamic content, with minimal intrusion into existing site architecture. Plug-in support limited to most common Web servers and database support is limited to Oracle.