TECH REFRESH
Federal enterprise switching infrastructures are getting faster and more sophisticated, judging by additions to two General Services Administration Information Technology Schedule contracts. Force 3 Inc. has put Cabletron Systems Inc. switching products on its GSA schedule. A five-slot SmartSwitch 6000 chassis goes for $2,018 with a removable fan tray and two slots for power supplies, which Force 3 of Crofton, Md., does not include.
Federal enterprise switching infrastructures are getting faster and
more sophisticated, judging by additions to two General Services Administration
Information Technology Schedule contracts.
Force 3 Inc. has put Cabletron Systems Inc. switching products on its GSA schedule. A
five-slot SmartSwitch 6000 chassis goes for $2,018 with a removable fan tray and two slots
for power supplies, which Force 3 of Crofton, Md., does not include.
The plug-and-play SmartSwitch 6000 is full-duplex, stackable and compliant with the
Simple Network Management Protocol.
A $4,578 SmartSwitch 6000 module from Cabletron of Rochester, N.H., has 24 switched
10Base-T ports for RJ-45 LAN connectors and two Fast Ethernet interfaces.
Force 3 also sells a $6,060 Fast Ethernet MicroLAN Module for the SmartSwitch 6000. The
module serves up to 36 ports via 10/100Base-T auto-negotiating MicroLAN segments with
RJ-21 LAN connectors and a High-Speed Interface Module slot.
Presidio Corp. of Lanham, Md., has added several BayStack 450 switching products from
Bay Networks Inc. to its GSA IT Schedule contract. Presidio is the master
federal reseller for Bay Networks of Santa Clara, Calif.
The BayStack products claim multiple resiliency levels and high-speed uplinks for
high-performance desktop switching. They support application prioritization, IP
multicasting and virtual LAN trunking.
A BayStack 450 24T Switch, which has 24 10/100Base-TX ports, costs $2,464. The BayStack
450 12T Switch, with 12 10/100Base-TX ports, goes for $1,642.
Presidio is a small and disadvantaged business. Both Force 3 and Presidio are 8(a)
vendors.
DLT Solutions Inc. of Herndon, Va., has added Infrasoft Ltd. civil engineering and
construction applications to its GSA IT Schedule contract.
Infrasoft products are in use at state transportation departments as well as the Army
Corps of Engineers, Federal Aviation Administration and other federal organizations.
Infrasofts applications interoperate with computer-aided drafting products from
Autodesk Inc. of San Rafael, Calif., for surveying, highway and railway design, mining,
quarrying, reclamation, landfill, site development, waste disposal and water engineering.
Users must buy the $2,528 Infrasoft Standard or $3,541 Professional Foundation to work
with any of the Infrasoft MX modules. The $1,609 MXRoad module helps design road projects.
The $995 MXRenew is for resurfacing, pavement detours, subgrading and widening efforts.
The $2,597 MXRaid module assists in rail projects such as light rapid transit, subway
systems and railroads.
For information on these and other federal contracts, visit GCNs Web site at http://www.gcn.com/csg.htm.
Bill Murray
Internet: bmurray@gcn.com