Abstract

Alteon WebSystems, Inc. commissioned The Tolly Group to evaluate the TCP session-processing rate of its Alteon 180e Web switch versus Foundry Networks’ ServerIron switch and the F5 Networks’ BIG/ip HA load-balancing device. While the Alteon 180e and the Foundry ServerIron are Layer 4 switches, the F5 BIG/ip HA is a PC-based device. The Tolly Group benchmarked the average number of sessions each switch could set up and tear down each second using one-, two- and three-port Fast Ethernet connections. Test results show that the Alteon 180e established connections at a rate that equaled the limits of the test tool hardware and Smart TCP test application — 6,500 sessions per second per SmartBits card, or 26,000 sessions total — across all port scenarios tested with no session loss.