December 10, 1996 1:45 PM ET
Retix eyes comeback trail with ATM products
By Paula Musich

Internetworking vendor Retix Network Systems, after 10 less-than-stellar quarters, has returned from its self-imposed silence to focus on the ATM access market. Officials yesterday outlined the Marina del Rey, Calif., company's new direction to supply competitive access providers, Regional Bell Operating Companies and other service providers with wide area Asynchronous Transfer Mode products. At the same time, Retix announced two additions to its MetroLAN 5000 family. The products, which the company is counting on to turn its fortunes around, will allow service providers to create high-speed, transparent LAN interconnection services over an ATM or dedicated fiber wide area infrastructure for both Ethernet and Fast Ethernet LANs, according to Randy Fardal, vice president of marketing for Retix Network Systems. The MetroLAN model 5442 provides two Ethernet ports and can be expanded to provide up to eight ports. The MetroLAN 5450, which provides 10 Ethernet ports, can be expanded to provide up to 16 ports. Both also support Fast Ethernet and provide an ATM DS-3 wide area link using an integral DSU/CSU. The devices allow service providers to create up to 128 virtual networks for different customers. These can be assigned to any combination of subscriber ports and ATM virtual circuits. Retix recently reported its first quarterly revenue gain in more than two years. The company announced revenues of $8.19 million for its third quarter, which ended Sept. 28, up 9 percent from $7.51 million in the year-ago quarter. Its net loss for the quarter was $592,000, down from $5.78 million in third-quarter 1995. Retix plans to further distance itself from its LAN bridging and switching roots by building on the initial acceptance of its MetroLAN ATM access products. Next year, it will add more expansion slots, other LAN interfaces including Gigabit Ethernet, and support for video and voice over ATM to the MetroLAN family. Copyright(c) 1996 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company is prohibited. PC Week and the PC Week logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. PC Week Online and the PC Week Online logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. Send mail to PC Week