Abstract

3Com Corp. commissioned The Tolly Group to evaluate its SuperStack 3 Switch 3870, a 48-port 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet switch that combines Layer 2 switching with stackability of up to eight units to provide support for 384 ports total. (96 ports tested in this evaluation.)

The Tolly Group engineers subjected 3Com SuperStack 3 Switch 3870 to a battery of tests designed to verify the key features of this device and also to determine its interoperability with other switches. Tests were conducted in November 2004 at The Tolly Group’s Boca Raton, FL, test facilities.

Tolly Group engineers validated more than a dozen key switch functions essential to LAN switches under The Tolly Group’s Tolly Verified certification program. Further, engineers demonstrated that the SuperStack 3 Switch 3870 interoperates with eight popular switches from Cisco Systems, Dell, Extreme Networks, Foundry Networks and Hewlett-Packard Co. Finally, engineers bestowed the Tolly Group’s First & Foremost award to the SuperStack 3 Switch 3870, citing it as the “First 10-GbE Stackable LAN Switch” tested by The Tolly Group to demonstrate 10-GbE between stacking uplink ports.