Network switch is nice and unspecial

DON'T BE FOOLED into thinking network switches are all the same. It pays to shop around.

The SRW224P from Linksys is an affordable Ethernet switch with support for Power over Ethernet (PoE) and remote management, plus mechanisms to prioritise network traffic and maximise bandwidth.

It doesn't look that special, delivered in a standard 1U rackmount format with a built-in power supply and 24 RJ-45 ports at the front. These are all auto-sensing, capable of working out the speed of the link (10 or 100Mbits/sec) and whether you're connecting to another switch or an end-point device, to eliminate the need for crossover cables.

Support for PoE means the switch can also work out whether attached devices conform to the 802.3af PoE specification. If they do, it can deliver DC power over the Lan, making for much simpler and neater deployment of things such as wireless access points and VoIP (Voice over IP) telephones.

The maximum power available is 180w, so with up to 12 devices connected, each can get the maximum 15.4w specified by the 802.3af standard. This drops to 7.5w per port if all 24 ports are used, but is still enough for a wide range of devices.

There's no dedicated stacking bus, as on some rival products. Any of the ports can be used to link switches together, and you get facilities to aggregate ports to create dedicated high-speed trunks. But each switch needs to be managed separately, which could be an issue on a larger network.

When it comes to management, you're spoilt for choice. You can, for example, connect a PC to the local console port, or use an SNMP console. Most people, however, will opt for the built-in web interface.

SSL support makes this a secure option with a clean and easy-to-follow interface, although a fair degree of technical knowledge is required to configure the more advanced features.

These include the ability to define up to 128 Virtual Lans (VLans) and a range of Quality of Service (QoS) settings to, for example, make sure that VoIP gets priority over ordinary data traffic. We found the Linksys switch very easy to configure.

There's an extra attraction in the form of a cashback offer should you want to upgrade the Linksys switch to something more advanced from parent company Cisco. There's a three-year limit on this, but it's a good offer on a switch that already offers a great deal to the growing small business. ?

L'INQ
Spex, pricing, etc.