If
someone tells you media conversion is a commodity product
that anyone can bring to market, they probably haven't looked
at the extensive product suite offered by Transition Networks.
With the industry's most comprehensive offering of full-featured
products, Transition's media converters stand out as "the
choice" among industry IT professionals.
Generally,
media converters are low-level OSI model devices with
no IP or MAC addresses and therefore are transparent to
the network. This "transparency" makes them
very inexpensive and easy to use, but also can make troubleshooting
the network very difficult. In an effort to overcome this
difficulty and to make media converters "visible"
to network managers, Transition has designed their full-featured
products to include the most advanced features on the
market today, including:
AutoCross (back to top)
Automatically detects and configures the twisted pair
port on the converter to the correct MDI or MDI-X configuration. - Eliminates
an entire category of troubleshooting
- No
need to identify cable type; straight-through or
crossover
- No
user intervention required to determine correct button
/ switch settings
View Flash AnimationAuto-Negotiation
(802.3u) (back to top)
Auto-Negotiation allows devices to perform automatic configuration
to achieve the best possible mode of operation over a
link. Devices with this feature will broadcast their speed
(10Mbps, 100Mbps, etc.) and duplex (half/full) capabilities
to other devices and negotiate the best mode of operation
between the two devices. - No
user intervention required to determine best mode of
operation
- Optimal
link established automatically
- Quick
and easy installation
While
the inclusion of this feature is beneficial, the ability
to disable it is equally beneficial. In the event of a
non-negotiating end device trying to connect to a negotiating
device, the mode of operation will drop to the least common
denominator between the two devices (i.e. 100Mbps, half-duplex).
Disabling this feature gives the user the ability to force
the connection to the best mode of operation when trying
to link with a non-negotiating device. Most Transition
converters with Auto-Negotiation will allow you to disable
this feature. View Auto-Negotiation Flash Animation
View Parallel Detection Flash Animation Link
Pass Through (back to
top)
Link Pass Through is a troubleshooting feature that allows
the media converter to monitor both the fiber and copper
RX ports for loss of signal. In the event of a loss of
RX signal on one media port, the converter will automatically
disable the TX signal of the other media port, thus "passing
through" the link loss. (see diagram below) - End
device automatically notified of link loss
- Prevents
loss of valuable data unknowingly transmitted over invalid
link
View Flash Animation
Pause (back to top)
PAUSE signaling is an IEEE feature that is used to temporarily
suspend data transmission between two devices in the event
that one of the devices becomes overwhelmed. In the event
that a device needs some time to clear network congestion,
it will send out a PAUSE signal to the other end device,
which will then wait a pre-determined amount of time before
re-transmitting the data. Transition's converters will
pass PAUSE signaling unhindered; ensuring that the message
is delivered to the end device. - PAUSE
enabled devices allowed to work properly
- Prevents
loss of valuable data transmission
- Reduces
bottlenecks and allows for efficient use of network
devices
PAUSE
signaling is not standardized over fiber media. Transition's
media converters will communicate this signaling over
fiber between the converters to pass this signaling on
to the other end device. Far
End Fault (back to top)
Far End Fault (FEF) is a troubleshooting feature that
is generally used in conjunction with Link Pass Through
to notify both end devices of a loss of link. In the event
of a loss of the fiber RX signal on the far end converter
the converter will automatically generate a Far End Fault
signal and send it on its TX fiber port to notify the
near end converter of a fiber link loss. Link Pass Through
will then disable the copper links on both ends; alerting
both end devices of network trouble.
(see diagram below) - Both
end devices automatically notified of link loss
- Prevents
loss of valuable data unknowingly transmitted over invalid
link
- Allows
for quick diagnosis and resolution of network problems
Transition
Networks media converters that include the FEF feature
do not need to be used as pictured above as they will
work with other network devices that support Far End Fault
per IEEE standards. View Flash Animation Loopback (back to top)
Select Transition Networks products are equipped with
Loopback. This feature puts a converter in a special mode
that enables the device to loop back the signal from the
RX port to the TX port on either media for testing and
troubleshooting purposes. Test signals from a tester (Firebird,
etc.) can then be inserted into the link and looped back
as received by a device to test a particular segment of
the link (i.e. copper or fiber). Loopback can be either
local or remote depending on the location of the converter
in the link. - Allows
network diagnostics from local or remote location
- Quickly
pinpoints problem areas of end to end link by testing
a particular segment
View Flash Animation
Some
converters have separate copper and fiber loopback functions
that can be enabled separately, while others will loopback
both copper and fiber at the same time when enabled. Please
refer to the specific product page for details. Last
Gasp (back to top)
Select Transition Networks products are equipped with
Last Gasp. This feature enables the device to store a
small amount of power to enable it to send out an SNMP
trap to alert the management console in the event of a
power failure. - Notification
of an impending power loss before it happens
- Allows
for quicker resolution of the power loss
Remote
Management (back to
top)
All chassis-based converters from Transition Networks, Inc. reg
can be managed through SNMP. Now, select stand-alone products
can also be managed through SNMP when used in conjunction
with a chassis based converter. While chassis based products
are generally placed in the telecommunications room, stand-alone
converters are generally placed in remote locations away
from network administrators. Remote in-band management
over fiber allows administrators access to the remote
device to check status and enable/disable features or
the device itself. - Visibility
of remote converters for network administrators
- Allows
for centralized management of media converters
Bandwidth
Allocation (back to
top)
Bandwidth allocation is an important feature found on
select converters which allows network administrators
to set the bandwidth of the converter in 64KB increments
via SNMP management. The bandwidth can be allocated in
any multiple of 64KB from 0Kb up to the full bandwidth
capability of the media converter and can be entered in
either KB or Mb values. - Effectively
manage bandwidth usage in the network to support critical
processes or activities
- Provide
only the contracted amount of bandwidth to paying customers
- Provide
only the bandwidth necessary to end users
View Flash AnimationSource
Address Change (back
to top)
Select bridging media converters are capable of detecting
and reporting changes in the MAC (Ethernet hardware) address
of the attached equipment. This feature is very useful
when administrators intend that only a particular physical
device be attached to a particular port.
When the MAC address of a connected device changes (new
device is inserted) the administrator receives the trap
with the notification of a change. | 
