Ethernet Switch from Compex

The DynaStack DS2216 is a 16 port 10/100 Mbps Ethernet switch from Compex for small organizations needing high bandwidth on their networks. It’s quite compact and easy to setup, with several good features. For one, instead of having software based configuration, the switch has two buttons on its front panel that let you configure individual ports quickly. You can configure each port speed, full/half duplex operation, trunking, and port priority. You can also quickly restore the switch to factory defaults using these two buttons, in case you configure it incorrectly.

Another interesting feature in this switch is something called 4-port trunking. This is similar to the cascading function found in most switches. However, while most switches offer single port cascading, this switch allows you to connect up to four of its ports with four ports on another switch of the same model. This effectively means that you get a bandwidth of up to 800 Mbps between two cascaded switches in full duplex mode, which is much more than what conventional switches offer. The switch also provides a conventional uplink port where you can connect additional switches or hubs to increase the number of ports. This is useful for organizations, who might need to expand their networks later

but don’t want to invest for it right now.

The switch has LED indicators for each port, plus nine other LEDs to indicate power, link activity, speed, priority, and trunking. The switch also has traffic priority features, in which it provides two levels of priority, normal and high. Packets in high-priority mode will arrive sooner at the destination MAC addresses than those in normal mode. This feature could come in handy for applications like video streaming and VoIP, where the quality of transmission is important. At a price of Rs 14,000 it’s an attractive choice for

SMEs.

Sachin Makhija in Gurgaon