EnGenius Reveals ‘Affordable’ Multi-Gig Switches with PoE: 8 2.5GBASE-T and 4 10GbE SFP+ Ports
by Anton Shilov on January 30, 2020 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Networking
- Qualcomm
- 10GBase-T
- NBASE-T
- 2.5GBase-T
- EnGenius
EnGenius has unveiled a new series multi-gigabit PoE++ L2+ networking switches with multiple NBASE-T ports. The EnGenius ECS2512FP and ECS2512 switches are designed for small and medium businesses as well as large living environments, and along with their fast switching capabiltiies, one of the models is also capable of Power over Ethernet to deliver power to remote, high-performance devices like Wi-Fi 6 access points. Both models can be managed remotely using EnGenius cloud-based software. The manufacturer is calling its new switches ‘affordable’, though without listing official prices.
Both new switches from EnGenius — the ECS2512FP and the ECS2512 — support 120 Gbps of switching capacity and are fed via eight 2.5GBASE-T ports along with four 10GbE SFP+ slots for fiber uplinks. Meanwhile, the more advanced ECS2512FP model supports the IEEE 802.3bt Power-over-Ethernet, allowing it to transfer up to 240 W of power to such power-hungry devices as Wi-Fi 6 access points, PTZ cameras, or AV controllers.
One of the key features of the latest EnGenius switches is their support for the company’s subscription-free EnGenius Cloud that allows to monitor system metrics in real time, display network topology, troubleshoot, problems, and analyze network’s behavior. According to the company, its switches and cloud services provide ‘enterprise-class features’ and essentially simplify monitoring of networks. While such capabilities bring a lot of value for companies, they come at a cost that typically makes these kinds of multi-gig switches prohibitively expensive for consumers.
EnGenius says that its ECS2512FP and ECS2512 switches will hit the market next month and that they will be ‘affordable’. Unfortunately, without an actual price it is impossible to say whether the switches will be reasonably priced for an average person, or for a business that wants to save on multi-gig network management.
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Source: EnGenius
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TomWomack - Thursday, January 30, 2020 - link
Will it be able to switch between the SFP ports, or are they uplink only? Four ports of 10GbE for less than a third of the price of a Ubiquiti ES16XG wouldn't be too shabby.(the ES16XG is not a thing of beauty and a joy forever - the one I have is unable to support 10Gb connections over the RJ45 ports, and requires transceivers rather than using direct attach cables - but it is a roughly-16 port basically-10Gbit switch for £600)
liket - Thursday, January 30, 2020 - link
Uplink port on a switch has used to mean crossed cable instead of straight, before every port could sense the cable configuration.It's not really a thing anymore other than in network design.
khanikun - Friday, January 31, 2020 - link
MicroTik has a 5 port for $130. Four 10Gb SFP ports and one 1 GB Cat-5 port. I just use direct attach cables to my machines. I didn't want to purchase extra SFP 10gbase-t modules.e1jones - Thursday, January 30, 2020 - link
With PoE, it's probably close to $300.It looks like a product in search of a market. Not enough 'slow' ports... I have a 24x 1G dumb switch now with about half the ports occupied. The 10G stuff is direct connect.
A drop in replacement with 10G added... one interesting option looks like the Trendnet 30284.24x 1G + 4x SFP+. The SFP+ to 10GBE adapters are getting cheaper... Serve The Home has been reviewing them in quantity lately.
fazalmajid - Thursday, January 30, 2020 - link
Does anyone actually use 2.5G ports, let alone PoE-powered devices? I don't think so. Why would I get this over a Mikrotik switch with 24 1G ports and 4 SFP+ ports for the same price?jhh - Thursday, January 30, 2020 - link
WiFi 6 can do more than 1Gbps. But, most people can't get more than 1Gbps externally, so its mostly useful for people with large internal data transfer requirements.saratoga4 - Thursday, January 30, 2020 - link
New Intel chipsets will come with 2.5 soonish.But yeah if you know what sfp+ is, the mikrotik stuff is already fast and cheap.
Gigaplex - Thursday, January 30, 2020 - link
I'd use them if they were available.Dug - Thursday, January 30, 2020 - link
I do use 2.5Gb ports and PoE. So your thinking is wrong.Why you would get this instead of 24 1Gb ports? If you use 2.5Gb devices and PoE to your access points.
Duncan Macdonald - Thursday, January 30, 2020 - link
What I would like to see - an 8 port unmanaged 1000BASE-T/10GBASE-T auto switch for under £50 (like the current 8 port 100/1000 switches that are available for under £20). For home and small business use 10Gig over Cat 6 or Cat 6a cable is far less hassle than optical and is far cheaper.