Abstract

NEC America, Inc. commissioned The Tolly Group to evaluate the Layer 2 and Layer 3 interoperability of the BlueFire 730, version R2.1 ed31(264), a work group switch. The Tolly Group engineers put the BlueFire 730 through a battery of tests designed to reveal the depth of interoperability the switch provides. The BlueFire was tested for interoperability with nine other switches from six other network infrastructure vendors.

The following switches were tested for interoperability with NEC's BlueFire:

• Alcatel OmniCore 5000
• Alcatel OmniSwitch/Router
• Anritsu MultiFlow 5128
• Enterasys X-Pedition ER16
• Extreme Alpine 3808
• Extreme BlackDiamond 6808
• Extreme Summit48i
• Foundry BigIron 4000
• Marconi ESR-5000

Tests included: Auto-negotiation, IP RIP (v1 and v2), OSPF, link aggregation, IPX RIP, VRRP, 802.1p/Q, Gigabit Ethernet uplinks. The switch passed all tests attempted.

This Tolly Group interoperability evaluation examines the NEC BlueFire 730, firmware version R2.1 ed31(264), as a Layer 2/Layer 3 workgroup switch intended for multivendor enterprise environments. Tested in July 2001, the study assessed whether the BlueFire 730 could integrate cleanly with nine third-party switches from six other network vendors across common switching and routing functions. The report divided testing into mandatory categories—Ethernet auto-negotiation, RIP version 1 and 2, and OSPF—and optional categories including VRRP, IEEE 802.1p/Q, and Gigabit Ethernet uplinks.  

The BlueFire 730 passed all mandatory interoperability tests with all nine peer switches. Tolly verified that it correctly negotiated the highest common Ethernet speed and duplex settings, exchanged RIP v1/v2 routing information, and exchanged OSPF routing tables across the entire test set. These results indicate that the switch can participate in dynamic IP routing environments without requiring a single-vendor infrastructure.  

In optional testing, the BlueFire 730 also showed broad compatibility. It interoperated with eight other switches in VRRP testing; Alcatel’s OmniCore 5000 did not support VRRP at the time of testing. Tolly also verified that the BlueFire 730 preserved VLAN tags and priority markings in 802.1p/Q testing with all nine peer devices, and that it supported full-duplex 1000Base-SX Gigabit Ethernet uplinks with all nine switches tested. Together, these results show that the BlueFire 730 could function as both a primary and backup Layer 3 device while also supporting cross-vendor VLAN and backbone uplink scenarios.  

The methodology used Category 5 UTP for auto-negotiation tests, single Gigabit Ethernet links for uplink tests, Spirent SmartBits traffic generation, and Acterna DominoFastEthernet inline analysis for VLAN tag validation.  Overall, the report presents the NEC BlueFire 730 as a standards-oriented campus switch that delivered strong Layer 2 and Layer 3 interoperability across a diverse multivendor network environment.