fast blackplanes (was Re: Experience with SMC 8624T L2 switches and nics)

[Dale Harris]

On Tue, Feb 25, 2003 at 08:42:47AM -0500, Mark Hahn elucidated:
> 
> it is a good deal.  I know of a large cluster recently installed
> in Toronto that is very happily using these switches in an agressive
> way (somewhat exotic wiring plan, including trunking.)  I believe
> they are quite happy with performance.  we have one which I'm 
> only starting to evaluate the performance of, but so far, so good.
> 


I guess I'm missing something here.  How would this compare to going
with a switch that has a large number of ports with a really fast
backplane?  Like say a Foundry BigIron 4000, or some such.  Is this a
just a cost vs. performance issue?  Can these switches be wired in such
a way to out perform a fast backplane?


-- 
Dale Harris   
rodmur at maybe.org
/.-)