IBM Corporation commissioned The Tolly Group to evaluate the performance of the IBM 8272 Nways Token-Ring LAN Switch Model 108, and to demonstrate the benefits of token ring switching in real-world scenarios. Switching scenarios are compared to shared Token-Ring performance results.

The test results demonstrate that the IBM 8272 switch delivers high throughput, extremely low latency regardless of frame size, and immunity to head-of-line blocking. The IBM 8272 can also deliver a dramatic improvement in aggregate throughput for campus LANs built around legacy two-port bridges that are migrated to token ring switching.