* Cisco's Linksys division targets small businesses
Cisco division Linksys this week introduced eight “smart” LAN switches for small businesses.
Linksys is billing the newest members of the Business Series Smart Ethernet Switch line as a cost-effective way for small businesses to get simple Web management, security and easy installation in their switches.
Linksys had built a name for itself in the market for switches designed for small and home offices before Cisco bought the company in 2003. The latest switches are more about small businesses than about the home networking market, so this is a middle ground between Cisco’s traditional business and the Linksys bread and butter.
The new devices include 24-port and 48-port 10/100Mbps switches, each with two Gigabit Ethernet copper or fiber ports. There are also versions of those with support for Power over Ethernet. Other new switches include 24-port and 48-port 10/100/1000Mbps switches with two optical slots.
Linksys is also introducing two stackable switches, one with 24 ports and another with 48 ports of 10/100Mbps Ethernet and four copper or four optical ports.
Management features are intended for organizations with little to no dedicated IT staff, but the switches still support SNMP, so that they can be monitored and managed from a central location. Many-to-one port mirroring allows a manager to monitor network traffic, cable analysis helps identify cable problems, and rate limiting allows control over how much traffic can go through a port.
The switches also support 802.1p and Differentiated Services Code Point for traffic prioritization and simple quality of service. Virtual LANs based on 802.1Q and port-level security based on 802.1x are also supported.
The switches are shipping now, ranging from $200 to $800.
