STRATEGY - Token Ring is dead!

The latest research from International Data Corporation (IDC)arch suggests the market will explode, says Stig Nielsen. suggests that there is life and growth in the Token Ring market for the foreseeable future. Most Token Ring vendors have remained silent in the face of claims that Fast Ethernet has killed off the market for Token Ring networks by offering better performance at a lower cost. Instead, they have repositioned themselves with newer technology solutions such as ATM.

The arguments for a replacement of large Token Ring networks with Fast Ethernet solutions demonstrate little understanding of the customer. While network managers want to improve the performance of their Token Ring installations, they also need to protect their legacy hardware investment as well as the applications that run on them. For managers, wholesale replacement of their network for Fast Ethernet is too costly and involves too great a risk.

It is true that revenue from Token Ring sales may face long-term decline.

But the Token Ring market is far from dead. Analyst figures may indicate that the overall market will remain flat until 2001, but a survey by IDC reveals a shift in spending within the market that represents a significant growth opportunity for suppliers.

In its report IDC surveyed 200 US companies, 60 per cent of which had an annual revenue of over $1bn and more than 5,000 employees. Its findings indicate that the market for Token Ring switching will explode over the next three years, mainly because customers want to take advantage of the new generation of Token Ring switches that offer new levels of performance at a lower price point.

The development of the next-generation Token Ring switch was led by Olicom's technology alliance with Cisco. A result of that alliance, the company's new CrossFire 8600 stackable workgroup switch and CrossFire 8601 desktop switch represent the first generation of products to feature Token Ring Asics which provide faster performance and more available bandwidth.

Olicom has also reduced the cost of Token Ring switching by more than half, lowering the price per port to less than $400 for a workgroup switch and $275 for a desktop model. This combination has delivered a cost-effective and low-risk route to upgrading Token Ring network performance, as well as the first step towards migration.

Olicom's switches are the enabling technology at the heart of its new business strategy: ClearStep. ClearStep is a network migration roadmap that matches Olicom's range of technologies to the customer's business objectives.

It provides a framework to allow Token Ring-centric environments to achieve business growth via high-speed networking. But at the same time ensures the high availability of mission-critical applications and reduces the complexity of end-to-end network management.

IDC reports three paths for the future of the Token Ring: Purist, Loyalist, and Replacer. Providing solutions for each path is the essence of ClearStep.

The Token Ring Purist is the first path identified by IDC. This is the route taken by those users who want to retain the reliability that is inherent in Token Ring technology and who want the simplicity of a frame-based backbone network. Their needs are effectively met by switched Token Ring, High Speed Token Ring and, eventually, Gigabit Token Ring.

The second path is that of the Token Ring Loyalist. Loyalists want a route to greater bandwidth and scalability at the backbone, combined with guaranteed quality of service between segments.

The additional complexity of an ATM backbone is thought to be worth the reward as it future-proofs the network, providing the glue between existing Token Ring sites and future Fast Ethernet workgroups.

Finally, there are the Token Ring Replacers, those who face major network expansion, where low cost is the most important and where support of legacy applications is of secondary concern.

There is no disputing that Token Ring network managers are under pressure to make changes. But how much of that pressure comes from inside their company and how much is pressure from Fast Ethernet vendors is unclear.

What is clear is that network managers will not take unnecessary risks.

Radical change is expensive and problematical. The best option is to migrate by a series of calculated steps taken in planned phases.

Stig Nielsen

Stig Nielsen is the product manager of Olicom A/S.