The Switch Is On--Gigabit, That Is
Of course, the most critical factor in choosing products is the size of a business and need. What works for the enterprise is often overkill for small or midsize businesses, in both management hours and cost for the small to midsize business. However, even the smallest home business wants the most for the money.
3Com Corp., Marlborough, Mass., offers a new switch that gives small businesses just that—the OfficeConnect Gigabit Switch 5.
The OfficeConnect 5 is a five-port switch that acts like its larger, 24-port cousins. Each port is capable of autosensing 10/100/1000 Mbps and each has auto MDI/MDIX. This switch gives "compact" a new meaning. It weighs in exactly the same as a rubber-encased iPhone (5.8 ounces) and is only about an inch wider than the iPhone. Official dimensions of the OfficeConnect 5 are 4.3 inches wide, 3.35 inches deep and .9 inches high. The switch can withstand temperatures from 32 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit.
The OfficeConnect 5 is officially energy efficient. It is Energy Star compliant and has a high-efficiency power adapter. The specification sheet reads that the device has a 4.1-watt power consumption. Reviewers loaded all ports up with an uplink connection to the network, one server, a workstation, a printer and a laptop, all running for a half an hour. The "Kill A Watt" meter, used to measure wattage, held steady at 4 watts.
This kind of efficiency is delivered by the design and the power saving mode of the switch. The product has one main chip that uses 65 nanometer technology. 65 nm refers to the size of the spacing in the chip. It allows for very small, compact design. Making the design small results in running on lower power because the internal environment is kept cooler. There is an even more efficient 45 nm technology in the works.
3Com has the distinction of being first in this market to use the 65 nm technology.
Unlike most enterprise-level switches and devices, the OfficeConnect 5 does not have a management interface. Considering that it is designed for the home or small business network, the lack of a management GUI is not an issue. Additionally, there are some built-in features in the device:
Intelligent Switching The OfficeConnect 5 cuts down on network traffic by listening to the network. It learns what workstations can be reached through ports. It can selectively pass on any information by transmitting the traffic from the relevant port only.
Traffic Prioritization In times of excessive load, the switch will do priority queuing. After a packet is received, the switch will examine it to see if it has been properly encoded. If it has, the switch will read the priority level and determine if the packet should be passed through the normal or high priority channel.
Automatic Loop Detect This feature prevents unwanted recirculation of packets, thereby preventing potential network clogs.
Using Wireshark, the free network analysis utility, bandwidth rates for the OfficeConnect 5 fluctuated between half of a Gb to a full Gb. This was using all five ports and monitoring the device during the course of an hour. Fluctuations are normal due to network activity, but the fact that the rate did not fall below half a Gig shows the efficiency of the device. Gigabit Ethernet is, in fact, a theoretical term; the reality is that with data traffic, bottlenecks and varying adapters on network devices, the bandwidth usually will not reach a full Gb. So the results from the OfficeConnect were pretty impressive.
This switch is part of the OfficeConnect series from 3Com. The OfficeConnect also is available in 8- and 16-port models. The switch is designed for the small business market, so the regular route to purchase is through a direct-market reseller. Street price is $79.
The OfficeConnect 5 is a cost-effective way to ramp up the bandwidth of a small network.