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DES-3550 Fast Ethernet Layer 2 Switch
Switching Technology
Another key development pushing the limits of Ethernet technology is in the field of switching technology. A switch
bridges Ethernet packets at the MAC address level of the Ethernet protocol transmitting among connected Ethernet or Fast
Ethernet LAN segments.
Switching is a cost-effective way of increasing the total network capacity available to users on a local area network. A
switch increases capacity and decreases network loading by making it possible for a local area network to be divided into
different segments, which are not competing with each other for network transmission capacity, and therefore decreasing
the load on each segment.
The Switch acts as a high-speed selective bridge between the individual segments. Traffic that needs to go from one
segment to another (from one port to another) is automatically forwarded by the Switch, without interfering with any other
segments (ports). This allows the total network capacity to be multiplied, while still maintaining the same network cabling
and adapter cards.
For Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet networks, a switch is an effective way of eliminating problems of chaining hubs
beyond the "two-repeater limit." A switch can be used to split parts of the network into different collision domains, for
example, making it possible to expand your Fast Ethernet network beyond the 205-meter network diameter limit for
100BASE-TX networks. Switches supporting both traditional 10Mbps Ethernet and 100Mbps Fast Ethernet are also ideal
for bridging between existing 10Mbps networks and new 100Mbps networks.
Switching LAN technology is a marked improvement over the previous generation of network bridges, which were
characterized by higher latencies. Routers have also been used to segment local area networks, but the cost of a router and
the setup and maintenance required make routers relatively impractical. Today's switches are an ideal solution to most
kinds of local area network congestion problems.
Switch Description
The DES-3550 is equipped with unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cable ports providing dedicated 10 or 100 Mbps bandwidth.
The Switch has 48 UTP ports and Auto MDI-X/MDI-II convertible ports that can be used for uplinking to another switch.
These ports can be used for connecting PCs, printers, servers, hubs, routers, switches and other networking devices. The
dual speed ports use standard twisted-pair cabling and are ideal for segmenting networks into small, connected
subnetworks for superior performance. Each 10/100 port can support up to 200 Mbps of throughput in full-duplex mode.
In addition, the Switch has 2 Mini-GBIC combo ports. These two gigabit combo ports are ideal for connecting to a server
or network backbone.
This stand-alone Switch enables the network to use some of the most demanding multimedia and imaging applications
concurrently with other user applications without creating bottlenecks. The built-in console interface can be used to
configure the Switch's settings for priority queuing, VLANs, and port trunk groups, port monitoring, and port speed.
Features
IEEE 802.3 10BASE-T compliant •
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IEEE 802.3u 100BASE-TX compliant
IEEE 802.1p Priority Queues
IEEE 802.3x flow control in full duplex mode
IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control Protocol support.
IEEE 802.1x Port-based and MAC-based Access Control
IEEE 802.1Q VLAN
IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree, IEEE 802.1W Rapid Spanning Tree and IEEE 802.1s Multiple Spanning Tree
support
Access Control List (ACL) support
Single IP Management support
Access Authentication Control utilizing TACACS, XTACACS and TACACS+
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