Networking Hardware

The A.C.E.S. Building Network uses two primary types of hardware for the physical network.  The large chassis based system you see at the top of the picture is a Cisco Catalyst 6509 Switch/Router.  There are four of these in the A.C.E.S. MDF, one for each of the major departments in the building.  Each of these 6509's uses Gigabit Ethernet over Fiber Optic Cable to communicate with each other, the U.T. campus backbone, and the smaller Cisco Catalyst 2948 switches located below the 6509 in the picture.  The 2948's are the workhorses of the current A.C.E.S. network, each providing up to 48 Fast Ethernet (100Mb) connections to the workstations and servers throughout the building.  Some of the larger and more powerful servers in the building, including the SGI Onyx2 in the basement, connect directly into the 6509's via Gigabit Ethernet over Fiber Optic cable.