Today, many of us are using our home networks or small office networks for streaming of videos to our HDTVs, or for VoIP telephone lines. Some of us are even entrusting our home or small business security footage to our home office network storage. In such situations, an unmanaged switch may not be sufficient, but a managed switch, or, preferably a web managed switch would be preferred. Read on for details...
For many a home,
office, SOHO, or a home office that shares an internet connection and storage using a home network, a managed network switch, or an industrial managed switch will be an overkill. However, these days, many of us are using our home networks or small office networks for streaming of videos to our HDTVs, or for VoIP telephone lines. Some of us are even entrusting our home or small business security footage to our home office network storage. In such situations, an unmanaged switch may not be sufficient, but a managed switch, or, preferably a web managed switch would be preferred.
Why Are Managed Gigabit Switches On The Rise in Small Businesses and Small Offices?
Regardless of why, managed ethernet switches have found their way from large corporations, to smaller offices, and finally to home offices and homes. The prices of ethernet managed switches, even gigabit managed switches are falling recently and the number of features and their user friendliness is increasing, so it makes sense even for a SOHO, small office/home office, to consider replacing a regular switch with a web managed switch, or a smart switch. Why? To improve quality of video streams, including security footage video streams, and to improve the VoIP quality. In a business that uses VoIP telephone lines, that should be reason enough! In this article, we will give a quick overview of the three types of a managed network switch that you can choose from: Unmanaged, Smart/Managed, and Managed network switch. We will dispell some of the myths and market-speak in the process. This should make it easier for you to determine what kind of a switch is best for your home, small office, or home office and whether you should "switch now."
Unmanaged network switches
Unmanaged switches are the type where you plug the switch into the wall outlet, attach all the network cables, and the switch "just works." They might work for you as well, but, stay alert. If you notice lower quality of your VoIP telephone connection with the clients, or even dropped calls, maybe it is time to "switch" to a managed switch. Or, if you are not able to stream videos over your network properly, maybe it is time to upgrade to a managed LAN switch, or managed local area network switch.
Smart network switches
Smart network switches were invented by marketing departments of large computer manufacturers when it was obvious that the prices were coming down and the number of features of managed switches have increased. One of the important features was management of a switch over a web interface, resulting in a term network managed switch, or web managed switch. The switches were marketed as switches that can smartly manage most of the features, while giving you the web access to some other features. For the most part it meant that, using the web interface, you just can not control as many features of a network switch as with a regular, older, command-line interface. So we can classify smart network switches, or web managed switches, somewhere in between the unmanaged and fully managed switches. When you are shopping for smart network switches, you are shopping for a compromise between the price and the features, so keep that in mind.
Fully managed network switches
These are the switches which allow you maximal control of the traffic through your network. They usually include a powerful CLI, command line interface, and today often times also include the web interface. These are the top of the line managed switches, and also the most expensive ones, especially the fastest gigabit managed network switches.
