3Com rolls out unified SMB switch |
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By Andrew R. Hickey, News Writer
04 Oct 2006 | SearchNetworking.com |
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After a few silent months, 3Com Corp. today released an all-in-one unified switch for SMBs.
According to 3Com, the switch converges wired and wireless networking functionality and includes Power over Ethernet (PoE) to support VoIP telephony on a single platform.
Dubbed the 3Com Unified Gigabit Wireless PoE Switch 24, the switch is designed specifically for SMBs looking for all of the elements of a business-class network and also as a platform for delivering advanced communications such as wireless and VoIP all in one box.
The box is designed for companies with five to 250 users and limited resources to throw at managing and upgrading the network.
According to Kevin Tolly, president of the Tolly Group, it appears that the new switch is the first of its kind geared toward SMBs.
"The Unified Switch proved in testing that it offers gigabit-speed throughput, PoE support and ease of management for small and medium-sized organizations that are seeking to upgrade their out-of-date networks and want to protect their investments as they add functionality to support their growing businesses," Tolly said in a statement.
The 3Com Unified Switch for SMBs has wired and wireless functionality for a secure, convergence-ready SMB network, including:
- Full Layer 2 line rate gigabit speeds with zero packet loss across all 24 ports
- Full 802.3af PoE support on each of its 24 ports
- Auto-voice VLAN capability
- 802.1x authentication
- Wireless WPA2 security and AES encryption
- Rogue wireless access point detection and mitigation
- Wireless fast roaming and automatic load balancing across managed APs
- Support for emerging standards such as 802.11n
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