New Managed Gigabit Ethernet Layer 2 switches have it all: speed, reliability, affordability.

January 16, 2001- Allied Telesyn International (www.alliedtelesyn.com), a worldwide leader in simplifying IP networking for businesses of all sizes, announced today its newest Gigabit Ethernet switch, designed to address the growing market demand for simple, affordable, high-bandwidth Layer 2 copper Gigabit switching. Well-configured to serve as a backbone switch for small to medium-sized businesses or education environments, the new feature-rich AT-9006T delivers flexible port density and media configuration options at a compelling price point.

"This newest member of the AT9006 Gigabit switch family goes the extra mile in delivering affordability in a feature-rich, Gigabit strong switch," said Melvyn Wray, Allied Telesyn's Vice-President of Corporate Marketing. "The AT-9006T puts Gigabit backbone connectivity within reach for even more networks."

The AT-9006T joins its fiber cousins, the AT-9006SX/SC and AT-9006LX/SC, in the managed Gigabit Ethernet switch family introduced last year. With six fixed 1000Base-T ports, the AT-9006T also has two expansion slots for enhanced flexibility. Optional expansion slots can be used to add 10/100TX ports (four per expansion module) for up/downlinks; 100BaseFX ports (two per module) with SC, VF-45 or MT-RJ connectors; or Gigabit ports (1 per expansion module) in copper or in fiber - SX or LX with SC or MT-RJ connectors.

The AT-9006T supports up to 12K MAC addresses and has 2MB of memory per port. Each of its six Gigabit Ethernet ports supports half or full-duplex operation and is IEEE 802.3ab auto-negotiating compliant at speeds of 100Mbps and 1000Mbps. Running in full-duplex mode, each of the AT-9006T's Gigabit ports can provide up to 2000Mbps of aggregate bandwidth.

The 6-port modular, managed Gigabit AT-9006T switch with advanced features such as Web-based management, standards-based IEEE 802.1p Priority Queuing and 802.1Q VLAN Tagging that make it easy to install, integrate and manage is available now, at a U.S. list price of $2923 - just $487 per port - that makes it easy to own. Optional add-on modules, also available now, carry U.S. list prices of $392 to $923.