Cabletron Systems SmartSTACK 100 - Manual (Page 17)

Introduction
1-7
The SmartSTACK ELS100-16TX goes beyond switching basics
incorporating unique management features, including, RMON
statistics and Broadcast/multicast storm protection, proactive
alarms, and both in-band and out-of-band SNMP management.
The SmartSTACK ELS100-16TX uses an ASIC-based switching
engine with the flexibility and performance required for today's
networking demands.
Ethernet switching allows customer to scale bandwidth by
segmenting the network into smaller pieces providing the required
amount of bandwidth to individual users or LAN segments.
Ethernet switching protects the customer’s investment in Ethernet
network hardware by preserving installed shared LAN equipment
such as repeaters and hubs, network interface cards, cabling,
applications, and network operating systems, while re-deploying
high-speed switches where necessary to support today’s
bandwidth demands.
The SmartSTACK ELS100-16TX will operate in either 10 Mbps half
or full duplex or 100 Mbps half or full duplex modes. Utilization of
Fast Ethernet 100 Mbps connections provides a 10 fold increase in
data rate per segment while preserving the basic network
operation and frame format.
The SmartSTACK 100 ELS100-16TX is protocol-transparent,
meaning it can handle different types of network traffic regardless
of the network protocol, such as IP and IPX. As the SmartSTACK
100 ELS100-16TX reads addresses from the packets it processes, it
builds a dynamic database of addresses called the
Bridge Address
Table . In this way, the SmartSTACK 100 ELS100-16TX continuously
learns the addresses of all connected devices. Consequently, you
can add new devices to the network, change device addresses, and
remove devices from the network without having to reconfigure
the SmartSTACK 100 ELS100-16TX.
The Open System Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model,
developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO),
identifies the levels of functionality inherent in each of its seven
layers. The SmartSTACK 100 ELS100-16TX operates at the Media