HP's EtherTwist Connectivity Solutions

Running a business is complicated enough. Why should running your business' network be complicated, too? Hewlett-Packard makes networking easy with a complete line of network products and services to meet all your connectivity needs. From simple work group LANs to complex worldwide networks, Hewlett-Packard has a solution that's easy to use and reliable without putting a dent in your budget.

Building Your Network

No matter what size network you're contemplating, you first need to give some thought to a number of important business considerations and the technical objectives necessary to meet them.

Your organization isn't static, and so your network shouldn't be, either. It should be able to adapt to your organization's changing missions and needs. It's important, therefore, to look for a network that offers you flexible system planning.

Your network needs to be able to grow gracefully as your organization grows, scaling seamlessly from work group to local site to multiple sites. Installation and modification should be accomplished quickly and easily without disturbing operations.

And because you know how hard it can be to get different vendors' hardware and software to work together, you'll want to choose components that meet recognized industry standards.

In today's highly competitive environment, achieving the best value is high on everyone's priority list. That means keeping the total cost of ownership as low as possible including the minimum initial investment for your network, as well as achieving low ongoing operational expenses with a minimum of resources. Look for network components that give you the best features, performance and reliability for your money.

Regardless of cost, you can't afford any network that doesn't work. Because your network supports your organization's day-to-day operation, it must be very reliable, affording you the maximum uptime possible. That's why you must have network components that don't break from a reputable vendor known for building reliable equipment.

You also need a network that can be easily managed in a consistent manner from a central location, and the software and hardware features capable of supporting this.

Finally, whether you're planning a network for a business, a government agency or a school or university, choosing the right network vendor is perhaps the single most important factor in meeting these objectives. Choose a network vendor with a proven track record in providing the types of products, long-term commitment and support necessary to meet your organization's information needs.

HP Takes the Work Out of Networks

Hewlett-Packard revolutionized networking in 1990 with the industry's first stackable network hub, creating a modular, pay-as-you-grow solution for building networks. Since then, HP has developed a family of reliable, low-cost, easy-to-use EtherTwist products -- including network interface cards, managed hubs, bridges, routers and network management software -- supporting a variety of network environments from work groups to advanced multi-site configurations.

The rack-and-stack design HP invented enables each EtherTwist component to be optimized for its task. But just as important, this innovative approach lets you easily install EtherTwist components and quickly combine them in a configuration that is tailored to meet your specific needs.

HP EtherTwist products are, by design, easy to install, wire and operate. All EtherTwist hubs and bridges are truly plug-and-play components, and even routers are up and running quickly with a single set-up screen. HP EtherTwist LAN adapters feature automated driver installation, while HP EtherTwist bridges and routers come with all protocols pre-installed. Bridge and router software upgrades can be installed in minutes over the network, making it feasible to support small, remote sites from a central location.

HP EtherTwist components provide the flexible growth paths you need, letting you build simple work group LANs or departmental networks today knowing you can expand and combine them as your organizational needs change in the future. With HP's building-block approach, it's a simple matter to reconfigure HP EtherTwist components to match new organizational objectives, or to add to your existing configuration. And HP's industry-leading OpenView network management software scales right along with your network, making it easy to keep your network running smoothly every day.

In today's multivendor network environments, you need to know that your network equipment supports industry standards. HP EtherTwist networking hardware and management software support all the leading industry standards, and are compatible with PCs and Macintosh computers, as well as workstations from Sun, Digital Equipment Corporation and HP. HP EtherTwist bridges and routers, for example, connect using standard network types (Ethernet, Token Ring, FDDI) and protocols (TCP/IP, Novell IPX, DECnet Phase IV, AppleTalk II, Xerox XNS and spanning tree bridging), and support SNMP standards for network management using both IP and IPX protocols.

Hewlett-Packard is synonymous with reliability. You can be sure HP EtherTwist products will stay on the job and keep on working. In fact, HP is so confident of the outstanding reliability of its network products, it offers the best warranties in the industry. Every HP EtherTwist PC LAN adapter, transceiver and hub is backed by an unprecedented lifetime limited warranty, and all HP EtherTwist bridges and routers are backed by an industry-leading three-year, on-site warranty.

HP EtherTwist components make it easy for you to build a network with the features, performance and reliability to meet your needs. And because HP uses the latest technology, you can do it without taking a big bite out of your budget.

Taming the Network Beast

HP also offers a family of standards-based network management products utilizing advanced technology to tame the network beast. HP's network management products are easy to use and provide a broad range of features and functions to let you react quickly to day-to-day events, as well as plan for the future.

With their automatic discovery and layout of attached network devices, point-and-click graphical interfaces and operation from a comprehensive view of the network as a whole, HP network management products let you spend your time operating your network instead of struggling with cryptic messages.

All of HP's managed hubs and bridges include HP EASE -- Embedded Advanced Sampling Environment -- which samples the flow of traffic on the network. HP network management software in conjunction with HP EASE goes beyond merely managing network devices to let you manage the flow of traffic itself and provide you with the information you need to plan for the future growth of your network.

HP network management products are built on HP's OpenView network management platform, the de facto standard SNMP platform of the industry. In fact, our competitors like OpenView so much, they use it themselves, making it the industry's leading platform for network management applications.

100Base-VG: The Future of Ethernet Imagine a local-area network capable of operating ten time faster than today's Ethernet LANs. Imagine also running this high-speed LAN over the very same twisted-pair wiring you currently have installed. And lastly, imagine being able to migrate to this new LAN for just a modest premium over the cost of today's Ethernet prices.

100Base-VG, a new 100-megabit-per-second LAN standard developed by Hewlett-Packard and AT&T, can turn this dream into reality.

100Base-VG is a high-speed evolution of today's Ethernet designed specifically to meet the high-volume data requirements of the new generation of work group applications. 100Base-VG transmits Ethernet packets ten times faster than existing 10Base-T Ethernet LANs, yet operates over the same voice-grade twisted-pair wiring.

Upgrading to 100Base-VG is a simple, two-step process of installing a new hub in the wiring closet and a new PC LAN interface card in each computer being upgraded, and then connecting them to the existing wiring. No changes are necessary in the wiring closet or cabling infrastructure. No changes are required in network operating systems or applications. No changes are required to manage the network.

100Base-VG achieves these impressive benefits through two breakthrough technologies -- quartet signalling and demand priority access. Quartet signalling transmits ten times more information than 10Base-T by simultaneously using all four pairs of wire. Demand priority access eliminates the packet collisions common to Ethernet LANs, substantially increasing throughput and guaranteeing bandwidth for high-priority applications such as multimedia.

HP believes 100Base-VG is the natural evolution of Ethernet, promising a cost-effective, standards-based, high-performance network solution for meeting your networking needs today and into the next century.

Connecting to the Future

Hewlett-Packard was instrumental in the development of the low-cost 10Base-T twisted-pair wiring Ethernet standard, and led the industry by introducing the first rack-and-stack components. Today HP is the only vendor offering a full line of rack-and-stack network components.

Now, HP is in the forefront again, establishing its innovative 100Base-VG technology as the next industry standard. 100Base-VG provides 10 times the speed of Ethernet on existing twisted-pair wiring, while offering a smooth migration path from current technology.

Para una demonstración del estos productos o información adicional, visite a su distribuidor autorizado HP más cercano.

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