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Driven by the undeniable growth in demand for bandwidth of private and public cloud data centers, 25G Ethernet over a single lane has become the new trend for sever-to-switch interconnections. And the increasing requirements of higher speeds in data centers have enhanced the adoption of 25G switch, which is the new buzz in recent years. In this post, a simple analysis of 25G switch market and comparison of commonly used 25G switches will be explored. 25G Switch Market Analysis As we know, before 25G technology advent, the existing options are one lane for 10G, four lanes for 40G, or four lanes at 25Gbps for 100G. The 25G technology meets the specification for existing module form factors like SFP28 and QSFP28, and allows for a breakout connection between 25G and 100G without changing the port on the front of many 100G switches. Besides, driven by the high speed and bandwidth, various switch manufacturers have announced their new 25G switches in recent three years, just to occupy

Stacking switch is a common technology used in network design, especially when large numbers of ports are required in data centers or large size networks. Stack switch not only provides high performance, but also maximizes network scalability and simplify network management. That’s why stackable switches are popular among network builders. Then what is stack switch? What’s the common way for switch stacking in the market? What Is Stack Switch? Stack switch, also called stackable switch by vendors, allows several switches to stack via specific stackwise port or uplink port. Traditionally the switches stacked together usually is limited to the same series of network switches. Mixed switch stacking is allowed for today’s switches. The number of stacked switches is often determined by switch brand. For example, Cisco 3850 stack switch can have a maximum of eight switches to be stacked, while Dell N4000 series stack switches are up to twelve. When switches are stacked, all members in t

Gigabit network switches connect Ethernet devices in a network while providing great performance capabilities. In many network structures, gigabit Ethernet switches are often used as access switches that connect devices in a local area network. As the pace of network migration is getting fast, the need for gigabit switch with 10G uplink is growing too. And numbers of network administrators desire to apply 1G switch with 10G uplink in their systems. Understanding Gigabit Switch with 10G Uplink Port and Its Market Gigabit switches with multiple port configurations enable the network capacity to expand in consumer or corporate environments. For example, an 8-port gigabit switch can provide fast transmission speed for office users, and an 24-port gigabit switch works effectively for small and mid-sized business networks (SMBs). While 802.11ac has changed the way business support the quantity of devices connecting to each other. For network switches in last three years, 10G uplink adde

As the growing of business and the increasing awareness of security, IP cameras are widely deployed in areas like schools, public areas and even at home. All these arouse the increasing demand for PoE (power over Ethernet) switches which enabling big benefits for IP surveillance system. However, many users may ask a question: how to choose a PoE switch for my IP cameras? 8-port PoE switch or 24-port gigabit PoE switch? Cisco PoE switch or Netgear PoE switch? This post intends to explore the necessary considerations for buying PoE switch. Understanding How PoE Switch Works for IP Cameras As we know, power consumption of different IP cameras is different. The power consumption of PTZ (pan-tilt zoom) cameras is up to 20W, while other IP cameras like indoor/outdoor dome IP cameras may just consume as little as 3 or 4W. In addition, PoE switches transmit both data and power for PoE-enabled devices via a single network/Ethernet cables such as Cat5e, Cat6 and Cat6a. Usually, PoE switch c

Purpose built for converged networks where video, voice and data are carried over a single network platform, PoE switches with 8 port, 24 port and 48 port represents an ideal solutions for different size networks like home or SMBs (small and mid-size business networks). 24-port gigabit PoE switch is a relatively commonly used network switch, which in turn cause hot discussions in forums and communities. Then what to consider when choosing a 24-port PoE switch? What’s the popular 24-port gigabit PoE switch to select? This post will give an answer. Considerations to Choose a 24-port PoE Switch As we know, the basic types of a network switch are managed switch, smart managed switch and unmanaged switch. Usually, managed and smart managed switches are an optimal choice for SMB applications because of its better control of networks. Power budget —PoE switches are designed to power devices like IP cameras, VoIP phone, AP, etc. The power the 24-port PoE switch provides should m

The performance of Ethernet switches is important in network design, for it will affect the whole network system working. Therefore, to achieve high performance, network managers may use different methods to improve performance of network switches, which cause a hot topic: switch stacking vs trunking. In the article, the knowledge of switch stacking and trunking will be explored as well as the comparison between them. Switch Stacking vs Trunking: Differences in Basic Definition Switching Stacking Switch stacking is to connect two or more stackable switches, usually up to nine, through a stack cable and uses Cisco propriety StackWise protocol. Stacked switches can be regarded as one unit, and use the same IP address. The stack master which contains the saved and running configuration files for the switch stack controls the whole stack units and can be replaced if it fails. And stacking connects the backplane of the switches thus having full backplane speed connectivity between th

Ethernet switches can be regarded as the “brain” of a network. In today’s market of network switches, there are mainly three types of Ethernet switches: managed switch, smart switch and unmanaged switch. Like the discussion about managed vs unmanaged switch, the topic of “smart switch vs managed switch” is also be discussed heatedly. Then what’s the true difference between smart switch and managed switch? Let’s have a further look. Smart Switch vs Managed Switch: Differences lies in Definition What Is a Smart Switch? A smart switch provides basic managed switch features such as QoS, security, and web management. Usually, smart switches are managed via a web browser, which provides intuitive guidance for users to manage their networks. If there is no advanced applications needed, smart switch is an optimal solution for simple applications like small and mid-sized business networks. What Is a Managed Switch? Managed switch, such as FS S3800-24T24S stackable managed switch