The product includes a Network Dispatcher function, allowing system administrators to link a variety of servers to form a large, virtual-server cluster and balance workloads among World Wide Web servers. Yet one customer was not too impressed by the IBM router. While the company has not completely ruled out installing the IBM device eventually, such a change is on the back shelf for at least the rest of this year. One stemmed from a configuration change, and the second occurred when a line exceeded a transmission high mark. Wrobel, Prudential Insurance.
Network management is another strong area for front-end processors.
However, even IBM admits that front-end processors are nearing the end of their product life cycles. Meanwhile, sales of channel-attached routers are on the rise. Competitors have noticed the increase in interest and have broadened their product lines with channel-attached routers. 3Com turned to BusTech Inc., a Burlington, Mass., company that has concentrated on mainframe connectivity, for help, and the two are working to build a channel-attached router that operates at Gigabit Ethernet speed. Yet these firms are far behind market leaders IBM and Cisco.