With more than a dozen routing switch chassis units due to hit theport. streets this autumn, IT managers will have a chance to inject new life into backbone networks.

The latest devices route tens of millions of data packets per second and support more users and applications.

Routing switch chassis from major vendors including Cabletron, Cisco, 3Com, Bay Networks and Lucent Technologies offer up to 32 Gigabit Ethernet ports or hundreds of 10/100Mbps ports. Prices start at $250 (#157) per 10/100Mbps port to more than $3,000 (#1,900) per Gigabit port.

Compare this to the traditional switch chassis which costs about $300 (#190) per 10/100Mbps port, while a traditional software router is about $2,000 (#1,250) per 10/100Mbps port.

Vendors are trying to distinguish their offerings by touting advanced features such as policy networking through the 802.1p and 802.1q protocols.

The nine-slot Cisco Catalyst 5509 will support up to 384 10/100Mbps ports or 38 Gigabit Ethernet ports on a 50Gbps backplane.

Cabletron has introduced the SmartSwitch Router (SSR) 2000, a routing switch that is designed to link users in small workgroups and the SSR 8600 16-slot chassis. This supports 30 Gigabit ports and 120 10/100Mbps ports.

Neil Wilkins, Cabletron backbone network marketing manager for EMEA, said the product provides guaranteed QoS capability.

Hewlett-Packard expanded its desktop switch line, introducing managed 10Mbps switches with 100Mbps or 10/100Mbps autosensing uplinks. And the company rolled out a family of Ethernet hubs priced as low as $10 (#6) per port.

Meanwhile, Intel cut prices on its entire Intel Express line of 10/100Mbps desktop hubs by as much a third.