SMC 8508T is a jumbo step for Gigabit switches

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Product: SMC 8508T 8-port GigE unmanaged switch
Company: SMC Networks
Street Price: ~ $100.66

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GIGABIT ETHERNET not only means the end of "cross-over cables" -at last!- but it will also add new terms to your networking vocabulary: "Jumbo Frames", for instance. When we reviewed Buffalo technology's Gigabit Linkstation, I suddenly became aware that my Linksys gigabit switch was not "Jumbo frames aware". In other words, it couldn't speak with ethernet "frames" bigger than the default 1500 bytes or so. Inevitably, the days of that switch were certainly numbered in my review lab, also because five ports suddenly seemed very few to accomodate the growing number of ethernet devices.

What you get: sturdy construction, 8 GigE RJ45 ports on the front

Now let me introduce you the SMC 8508T, SMC's entry level 8 port switch which is the perfect solution both for the home office and also for small work groups in a corporate environment. I wrote before about SMC's cheaper model with a plastic case, retailing at only $50 at the time, but I had enough with cheap plastic kit that can't be stacked properly on my home office.

The eight-port SMC 8508T vs the 5-port Linksys it replaces
Rack adapter brackets and rubber pads

The news since my Gigabit Linkstation review is that the nice people at Buffalo let us keep the Gigabit Linkstation to use it on future reviews, and what a better way to put it to use than re-doing the performance tests, but this time with the Jumbo Frames-aware SMC switch. In the LS review, when I enabled Jumbo Frames, no data would move on the network -the Linksys was acting as a filter to "Jumbo Frames". The SMC on the other hand, worked just fine with the 3 frame sizes supported by the Gigabit Linkstation: 1.5k, 4.1k, and 7k.

Tested with the Gigabit Linkstations and Jumbo Frames enabled

So I ran Passmark's PT disk tests on a shared network drive served by the Gigabit Linkstation. The results? With the Gigabit Linkstation set to use 7k Jumbo Frames, PT read scores were 7% faster than the direct-connection, jumbo frames enabled scenario of the LS review. Write scores didn?t change but this is probably due to the hard disk slowness or other disk-induced bottlenecks rather than a network issue, as network kit move data both ways at the same speed without knowing if the bytes being moved are a result of a read or write operation.

Special thanks go to Iain Kenney from SMC UK who helped me a lot on my early days struggling to understand the Jumbo-mess and the frame size differences between the Linux and Windows world at the time of my Gigabit Linkstation review.

Speed difference: around 7% faster

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Good:

• Excellent construction
• Plug-and-forget design
• Doesn't overheat.
• Good vent holes on each side, will not get blocked even if you stack several units.
• Can be placed on a desk, on the floor, or a shelf by using the included rubber pads, or mounted on any 19-inch rack by attaching the two support adapters to it.
• Quiet, fan-less operation.
• Supports Jumbo Frames

Bad: I'm getting picky to find something to dislike about it. Hmmm.. the AC/DC power adapter is 220v only (if it's the european version like this unit). My guess is that the american version is '110v only' as well, although that is just speculation on my part. I appreciate manufacturers who include multi-voltage, auto-switching power bricks with its kit. SMC is not one of them, at least not in this case. This is however a minor issue, as most people won't transport a switch between countries with different power standards. But I like the freedom of multi-voltage power adapters. So there.

The Verdict
As one famous editor of Scottish origin likes to say: "it does what it says in the box". I give this unit four and a half Fernandos in my personal one-to-five rating scale. There isn't much more to say about a "plug and forget" box like this. And at the current low price of around a hundred greenbacks, it's a great deal. Three years ago I paid $250 for my old five port Linksys that can't even do Jumbo. ?

See also:
Gigabit LinkStation: a power user's dream NAS drive
There's no excuse: the time to move to Gigabit Ethernet is now