The network uses the XYLAN OmniSwitch. This switch has been in use in our mock-up environment for about a year, and has proven to be reliable and fast. The aggregate backplane throughput for the switch is 960Mb/s, while the latency for switching packets is very low. Our configuration uses 2 switches, each with 10 Base 2 (50 Ohm Coax), 10 Base FL (full-duplex 10 Mbit/s fiber), and 100 Base Fx (100 Mbit/s single and multi-mode fiber). The switches are built with the ability to move to ATM or Gigabit Ethernet, if the need arises. Note from Sect. 3.2 that we have plenty of room to grow before we need to take that step.