NEC Intros Multiservice Switch

DALLAS -- NEC America, Inc. (NEC) has announced that its BlueFire(TM) IX5003 multi-service IP switch router is currently available from NEC authorized dealers. Suitable as either a standalone full-featured small office router or as a branch office complement to the BlueFire IX5010, NEC's enterprise class multi-service switch router, the BlueFire IX5003 supports a variety of transport modes, including 10/100 BASE-T (10/100 Mbps), 1000 BASE-X (1000 Mbps) Ethernet, as well as ATM , Packet over SONET, and Frame Relay, thus facilitating migration to IP while allowing integration with legacy networks. "NEC's prime focus is to deliver a family of solutions that enables our customers to protect their investments in technology, particularly in today's economy," said Shuichi Hashimoto, vice president and general manager of the newly-formed IP Network Division (IPND) of NEC America's Corporate Networks Group. "The BlueFire IX 5000 Series multi-service switch routers fill that need by providing a migration path to IP transport without impacting the reliability and functionality of the customer's legacy equipment." NEC introduced the BlueFire family of IP switches and routers last year as a data infrastructure complement to its highly successful NEAX® family of voice communications platforms. The BlueFire IX5003 features a non-blocking 2 Gbps switch fabric with eight 10/100 Mbps (Fast Ethernet) ports and an optional 1,000 Mbps (Gigabit Ethernet) port. Other optional interfaces include Packet Over Sonet (POS), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and Frame Relay. The BlueFire IX5003 provides high-speed multi-layer (L2/L3/L4) switching and routing in hardware. It also supports IPv4 and IPv6 in hardware so that users can make the transition to IPV6 simple and efficient when it meets their business needs. Multiple levels of Quality of Service allow for prioritization of delay-sensitive voice traffic to facilitate the migration to converged IP networking. NEC Corp.