Alcatel OmniStack Steps Up Workgroup Security For Less

The new OmniStack 6300 is a Layer 2 fixed-configuration switch with Layer 3/4 services. It has 28 ports, including 24 10/100/1000 ports and four MiniGbic (Gigabit interface converter) small form-factor pluggable ports for enabling fiber uplinks. Only 24 of the ports can be used at one time.

"It has all the robustness of a higher-end switch but at a great price point," said Ron Goodband, COO of Advance2000, a solution provider in Buffalo, N.Y.

Available now starting at $2,495, the new switch targets data center, aggregation and Gigabit-to-the-desktop deployments, said Brian Witt, director of product marketing at Alcatel, Calabasas, Calif. "It's probably more capacity than people know they need in the short term, but it helps future-proof the network for higher capacity," Witt said.

The OmniStack 6300's security capabilities include access control lists to help block denial-of-service attacks, port-based authentication that requests a password, Media Access Control address lockdown to thwart rogue device access, and VLAN support.

Availability features include Quality of Service, support for fast and multiple spanning-tree deployments for load balancing and failover, and a backup power supply.

Though the OmniStack 6300 brings some core features to the desktop, its lack of support for Power over Ethernet could hinder adoption by customers interested in deploying IP telephony, said Dennis Gorecki, marketing manager at Data Comm Networking, a Burr Ridge, Ill., solution provider. "Even if they're not using VoIP today, they know that a year from now they'll be moving in that direction," he said.

Alcatel left PoE capabilities out of the OmniStack 6300 to keep pricing low but plans to add PoE to its workgroup switch family in the future, a spokesman said.