From owner-freebsd-hackers  Mon Mar 15 21: 6: 9 1999
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To: fkittred@mail.gwi.net
Cc: wghicks@bellsouth.net, freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Gigabit ethernet -- what am I doing wrong? 
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 15 Mar 1999 08:48:02 -0500"
	<199903151348.IAA23796@mail.gwi.net>
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Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1999 23:56:20 -0500
From: W Gerald Hicks <wghicks@bellsouth.net>
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From: Fletcher E Kittredge <fkittred@mail.gwi.net>
> On Sun, 14 Mar 1999 21:59:44 -0500  W Gerald Hicks wrote:
> > Erm... Depends on what one wants to do with it  :)
> > 
> > I believe certain market segments would welcome a Gigabit
> > Ethernet subsystem on a Rambus with huge memory buffers.
> 
> Hum, the only use of such cards would be PC routers?

That's a pretty narrow category  :)

No, there are quite a few new and previously inconceivable
applications emerging to soak up the bandwidth we've gained.

> You are talking with a builder/maintainer of PC routers :)
> 
> Having said that, our market niche is *way* small. I don't think this
> is a profitable niche.  I think that one would be building so few
> cards, the cost would be so great per card that it would be cheaper to
> buy a Cisco.  There are many hidden costs to
> developing/building/testing/maintaining/operating PC routers and
> Ciscos are already probably cheaper in the long run.

I disagree.  There are quite a few places where Ciscos just don't fit
and people needing solutions are willing to pay for them.

Besides, conceding the whole networking market to Cisco isn't good
either is it?  The niche market is alive and well.

Cheers,

Jerry Hicks
wghicks@bellsouth.net


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