 Transition
Networks
About
The company Transition Networks, a part of the corporation
Communication Systems Inc., was established in the United States
(Minnesota) in 1987, and originally focused on production of
coaxial cables and terminals-to-mainframes connections.
With the arrival of new computer network technologies,
the company began to specialise in products that allow easier
transition to the new network technologies, while maintaining
support for their existing customers' networks.
The current product portfolio of Transition
Networks focuses on production of converters that enable the
existing copper cabling networks communicate over optical fibres.
www.transition.com : www.commsystems.com
- Save time and money by relying on our expertise. Because
media conversion is our sole focus, we are the conversion technology
experts. We'll help you find the best solution for your network
the first time around every time. Contact
us now.
- Receive personalized training and expert advice free of
charge. Transition Networks offers free
on-line training to help you resolve all your networking
questions and challenges.
- Get the product you need when you need it. Our extensive
product depth and industry-leading product availability means
you won't have to look elsewhere for all your media conversion
solutions.
- Eliminate product compatibility worries. Our products
work alongside – not in competition with – the
billion dollar club: 3Com, Cisco, Lucent, Nortel, etc.
- Never worry about product functionality. Transition
Networks products are Built to Perfection. 99.83% of our products
are delivered without functional failure. We also offer 24/7
technical support free of charge. On top of that, we offer
a 100%
Lifetime Warranty on our complete product (including power
supplies and fans.)
- Your overall buying experience will consistently be the
best in the industry. Our company-wide committment to
on-going improvement has earned us ISO
9001 certification.
Advanced Features
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:
Auto-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
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 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
Far End Fault (802.3u) (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
Automatic Link Restoration (back
to top)
Transition Networks's converters will automatically re-establish
link in all network conditions.
- No need to reset devices
Transition Networks's converters will automatically re-establish
link when connected to switches if link was lost. With other
manufacturers' converters the user must reset the converter
to re-establish the link.
- Auto-Negotiation Enabled
Automatic Link Restoration allows the users to continue using
Auto-Negotiation with Link Loss Notification features. With
other manufacturers' converters the user must disable Auto-Negotiation
and hard set the link.
- Link Pass Through Activated in both directions
Automatic Link Restoration on Transition Networks's products
allows users to continue using Link Loss Notification feature
activated in both directions. Many competitive solutions
allow for Link Loss Notification activation only in one direction.
If Link Loss feature is activated in both directions, competitive
products are put in a "deadly embrace" and they cannot restore
the link without resetting the converters.
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.
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
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.
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 Animation
Remote Firmware Upgrade (back
to top)
New product features are continuously being added to Transition
Networks's products. These improvements are also available for
many products already installed in the field. Management modules
and many media converters can be updated remotely via firmware
upgrade. The remote upgrade feature eliminates the need to ship
the products back to the manufacturer. The firmware upgrades
can be performed by a user either locally via a Console port
or remotely via TFTP.
The upgrades do not require the reconfiguration of the SNMP management
or converter feature settings.
Source 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.
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
Single Fiber Technology (back
to top)
Single fiber technology offers a 50% savings in fiber utilization.
It is an attractive solution to maximize the usage of a limited
number of fiber runs.
In a traditional optical link, a fiber pair consists of two uni-directional
strands. The single fiber technology multiplexes two optical
wavelengths of 1310nm and 1550nm into a single strand fiber.
In a single fiber media converter each wavelength is responsible
for either the transmit or receive function. Consequently, the
bi-directional transmission is achieved by using a single strand.
The converters in a single fiber scenario "match" each other's
wavelengths. Converter A transmits at the wavelength of 1310nm
and receives at 1550nm while the other converter transmits at
1550nm and receives at 1310nm. Therefore, converters are usually
used in pairs.
Single fiber technology is available on all Transition Networks
Media Converters in maximum distance ranges from 20 to 80km.
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