Abstract

Many 10 Mbit/s Ethernet LANs are overtaxed by bandwidth-hungry applications. Products incorporating Fast Ethernet as well as switched 10 Mbit/s technology are poised to deliver more bandwidth to end users. 3Com Corporation commissioned The Tolly Group to evaluate the performance of two such products: the LinkSwitch 1000, a 10/100 Ethernet switch, and the LinkBuilder FMS 100, a 100 Mbit/s Fast Ethernet stackable hub. Both products can significantly boost bandwidth. 

Test results show that legacy 10 Mbit/s segments will realize dramatic performance increases when integrated with 100 Mbit/s servers. Further tests indicate that customers choosing to upgrade all stations to 100 Mbit/s will see significant increases in individual client performance.

The LinkSwitch 1000 offers a scaleable performance solution that supports up to twenty-four 10 Mbit/s segments plus two 100 Mbit/s server segments. With the LinkBuilder FMS 100, clients and servers alike enjoy faster performance by moving to 100 Mbit/s network access from 10 Mbit/s access.

Tolly Group Report #5279 (December 1995) evaluates 3Com’s LinkSwitch 1000 10/100 Ethernet switch and LinkBuilder FMS 100 Fast Ethernet hub for boosting client–server throughput when migrating from 10 Mbit/s to 100 Mbit/s networks .

Key results.

• Single-server throughput: Both products reached ~86 Mbit/s with large frames and packet bursting; with 512-byte frames the LinkSwitch 1000 still delivered ~36.14 Mbit/s with 24 clients accessing one 100 Mbit/s server .

• Dual-server throughput: With two servers on dedicated switch ports and clients evenly split, LinkSwitch 1000 hit 156.25 Mbit/s aggregate; LinkBuilder FMS 100 held ~81–82 Mbit/s under the same large-frame, burst conditions .

• Smaller frames, dual servers: On 512-byte traffic the FMS 100 reached up to 47.69 Mbit/s (12 clients per server), while the LinkSwitch 1000 exceeded 66 Mbit/s aggregate with 24 clients .

• Architecture takeaway: In single-server scenarios the shared 100 Mbit/s hub can match or beat the switched design at low client counts, but in dual-server/high-concurrency scenarios the switched LinkSwitch 1000 delivers substantially higher aggregate throughput (theoretical ceiling >200 Mbit/s vs 100 Mbit/s for a shared hub) .

Upgrading to 100 Mbit/s uplinks yields immediate gains for legacy 10 Mbit/s clients; choose switched 10/100 when multiple servers and many simultaneous clients drive aggregate demand, and consider shared 100 Mbit/s when peak bandwidth to a single server or single heavy client dominates .