Momentum for Gigabit Ethernet started increasing last year after the standard was ratified, but widespread adoption did not materialize at that time. It was not a safe bet. But now agencies such as Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif., and the Army's Redstone Arsenal, Ala., have committed to Gigabit Ethernet. Users have a range of Gigabit Ethernet products from which to choose to achieve greater performance without encountering a steep learning curve. It's still the same Ethernet people have been playing with for years.
Network managers feel comfortable with it.
Ted Sopher, network manager at the Energy Department's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said those who do not have unique needs. Overall, government agencies will stay with the cost-effectiveness and performance of Gigabit Ethernet. The Gigabit Ethernet Alliance, a group of companies offering these products, believes the initial applications for their products will be for campuses or buildings requiring more bandwidth among routers, switches, hubs and servers. When it came to ATM, we didn't have enough manpower. We wanted something that would be easy to support.