Bay Networks Centillion C50, C100 and 5000BH switches
- a C50 with 10/100 Mbit Ethernet
with ATM, Token Ring and Ethernet
We are running two C50 because of size and one C100 on our lab.
We don´t have any C20.
The unique feature of all Centillion 50 / 100 / 5000BH is, that these switches have an ATM driven backplane. That means, the Centillions internally work with the ATM data transport technology.
There are proprietary custom processors with Bay Networks SAR ("segmentation and reassembly") technology (asic´s or dsp´s) on board for realtime protocoll conversion from and to ATM cells. This works for Ethernet and Token Ring boards. The ATM boards need no conversion.
So you can connect two Centillions back to back over the mostly integrated 155 or 622 Mbit ATM fiber line boards, but running Ethernet or Token Ring from one end to the other end.
Currently this is the absolutely cheapest and most efficient way to convert 10/100 Mbit switched Ethernet to a single mode or multi mode fiber line over miles for very small money.