Dell unveils smarter switches

Dell this week at Networld+Interop released three Ethernet switches aimed at businesses looking to add Gigabit Ethernet links to servers, and enhance wiring closet resilience, security and management within their LANs. 

Dell's PowerConnect 5212 Gigabit Ethernet switch and PowerConnect 3348 and 3324 wiring closet boxes could help small and mid-sized enterprises deploy LAN gear cost-effectively, with Gigabit ports in the $75-range and desktop ports priced at around $20.  Dell also added stacking and security features to its PowerConnect line.

The PowerConnect 5212 is a 12-port 10/100/1000Base-T switch for connecting servers on a LAN.  The box also has four fiber-Giagbit Ethernet uplink ports, allowing for a total of 16-Gigabit links in one box. The Layer 2 switch supports QoS with four priority queues, and can interpret packet QoS settings based on Layer 2-4 packet classifications, such as 802.1p, DiffServe and TOS.  The box also supports Secure Sockets Layer and SSH encryption for securing management traffic.

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Dell this week at Networld+Interop released three Ethernet switches aimed at businesses looking to add Gigabit Ethernet links to servers, and enhance wiring closet resilience, security and management within their LANs. 

Dell's PowerConnect 5212 Gigabit Ethernet switch and PowerConnect 3348 and 3324 wiring closet boxes could help small and mid-sized enterprises deploy LAN gear cost-effectively, with Gigabit ports in the $75-range and desktop ports priced at around $20.  Dell also added stacking and security features to its PowerConnect line.

The PowerConnect 5212 is a 12-port 10/100/1000Base-T switch for connecting servers on a LAN.  The box also has four fiber-Giagbit Ethernet uplink ports, allowing for a total of 16-Gigabit links in one box. The Layer 2 switch supports QoS with four priority queues, and can interpret packet QoS settings based on Layer 2-4 packet classifications, such as 802.1p, DiffServe and TOS.  The box also supports Secure Sockets Layer and SSH encryption for securing management traffic.

The PowerConnect 3348 and 3324 offer 48 and 24 ports of 10/100M bit/sec Ethernet, respectively, and each box has two Gigabit Ethernet up link ports.  The switches are targeted at wiring closet deployments and can be stacked together using a Gigabit Ethernet interconnect adapter. This allows up to 192 ports to be managed as a single device with one IP address.

The PowerConnect 5212 is available now, priced $1,200 and the PowerConnect 3348 and 3324 are available for a price tag of $1,000 and $550, respectively.