gigabit switches

[Steven Berukoff]

Hello all,

My group is currently outlining the plans for a ~140 node dual athlon
cluster.  Our networking needs are minimal: no internode communication,
rare master-slave communication (with xfers of ~tens KB), and even more
rare very large data transfers from slave to server (~100s of MB).

Now, we are currently considering a hierarchical network structure, to
minimize costs.  In particular, we planned on having each set of ~15 nodes
connected to a 16 port 100Mbit switch with a Gbit uplink.  Then, each Gbit
line gets plugged into a Gbit switch.  

The question I have to you, my dear reader, is:  Do there exist 16 or 24
port Gbit switches suited for this purpose?  The only ones I know of are
made by Foundry Networks, who manufacture 16, 24, and 32 port
models.  Have I missed some?  If so, does anyone have yea/nay
comments?  

Your comments and suggestions are, as always, very appreciated.

Steve


=====
Steve Berukoff					tel: 49-331-5677233
Albert-Einstein-Institute			fax: 49-331-5677298
Am Muehlenberg 1, D14477 Golm, Germany		email:steveb at aei.mpg.de