This is radically different than the model employed by many competitors who have historically used a centralized switch processor that does not scale in capacity as port count or technology type changed. Network control is a goal of most network operators, and the tools to gain control over how the network is used have been elusive. Cabletron pioneered the concept of protocol control, in which switches are able to selectively allow or disallow specific protocols or applications at the edge of the network, independent of where routing takes place. This ability allows for enforcement of IT rules that had previously been a challenge to enforce, such as the prohibition of NetBEUI, the blocking of routing protocols on ports that do not contain valid routers, and the prevention of unauthorized IP multicast senders. All of these conditions can disrupt network activity and were once nearly impossible to prevent.
Proper instrumentation is a vital tool in the next-generation network.
Cabletron is unique in the industry, offering both hardware and network management products. Because of this duality, Cabletron hardware is the most manageable in the industry. Security services in the infrastructure are generally meant to augment end-system security. To complete the next-generation model, a comprehensive feedback and monitoring framework is needed. While many vendors tout their ability to deliver service-level agreements, they are usually just delivering some of the infrastructure building blocks of an SLA, not the complete SLA and its associated measurement.