Korean companies develop first gigabit backbone switching system

Seoul, Jan 24 (Asia Pulse) - The Ministry of Information and Communication said Monday that a gigabit ethernet backbone switch system, a core facility of super high-speed LAN, was first developed in Korea by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and Medialincs.

The system is expected to record exports of US$10 million by 2003 and the import substitution effect will be worth 50 billion won (US$44 million) by 2003. Korea has relied on imported products worth 60 billion won annually so far. The technology, which has been advanced as national policy task of the ministry at a cost of 7 billion won since 1998, speeds up data transmission speed in LAN to 1Gbps and manages data linked with outside Internet.

The product is priced at 72.2 million won per full system, cheaper than 3COM's Core Builder at 106 million won, and has high price competitiveness compared with quality. The ministry will advance the development of the 10 Gbps ethernet core chip set from this year.