Selecting the Best Switch For Your Wireless Network

Switches play a critical role in both wireless and wired networks. Finding the best switch for your wireless system requires an understanding of several technical factors. TESSCO can help you sort through this confusion with our technology expertise and diverse product offering.

Selecting the Right Switch

Switches are a focal point for a network. They control how information gets around the network and what controls you have over that information. As switches become more intelligent and capable of functions beyond typical Ethernet routing, it's crucial you have the knowledge to select the correct switch. Options such as speed, management, and scalability that must be taken into consideration when making your decision.

Basic Switch Considerations

Port Density and Scalability

The foundation of a switch is its physical port density. For each connection on a switch, it will be able to support one network device. In other words, an eight-port switch will be able to handle eight devices before it will need to be expanded or replaced. This can be a choke point for an expanding network if not planned correctly.

Recent innovations have changed this consideration by allowing switches to be stacked together. This allows two or more switches to function as one and allows for easy expansion and management as the network grows and needs change. These switches are a good fit for users in small to mid-sized business that are anticipating an unknown level of growth in the future.

Network Speed

Traditional switches are what are known as 10/100BaseT systems. They function at speeds of 10 or 100Mbps and can negotiate between the two. This is the current speed used by networks in most organizations. Newer switches, however, have increased capacities to 1Gbps (1,000Mbps) and 10Gbps (10,000Mbps). Choosing the correct speed is critical to buying the most cost-effective switch possible. Plan for expansion but do not over-estimate the need - 10Gbps switches will cause a financial loss if your network will not grow rapidly enough to use that capacity. Although desktop and laptop computers from major manufacturers are now being equipped with 1Gbps, hardware audits should be done to make sure that current and new devices will be compatible with and able to take advantage of a faster network.

Management

VLAN: Virtual Local Area Network

VLANs separate a network into segments that are distinct from each other. They turn one network into multiple sub networks that do not interact with each other. This allows for security as well as network segmentation to ensure time-sensitive or mission critical requests will have priority over average network traffic. VLANs also allow for considerations such as bandwidth control and prioritization.

Bandwidth and Priority Control: Case Study

Advanced switches can control nearly all aspects of an internal network. They manage how much speed each device is capable of receiving at any given time and what priority it is assigned. This allows a network manager to give more speed to a user needing to send a large amount of information and a smaller amount of speed to a device sending lesser amounts of data.

Take the case of a company network managing large files as well as sending limited but time-sensitive Point-of-Sale data to a credit-card validation company. While both functions are very important, the credit card data is small and thus should not take up more then its fair share on the network. However, due to the importance of this point-of-sale program, it can be given a higher priority on the network - while sending an email or requesting a website can be delayed, POS data or real-time video should not. These controls will allow for a higher level of user satisfaction in the network and more efficient use of company resources.

Switching Solutions from TESSCO

Because of the large number of options associated with a switch, TESSCO is always available to assist with the selection process. TESSCO supports a number of different manufacturers including Alcatel, ADTRAN, and SMC Networks - please contact TESSCO with all of your switch needs and allow our knowledgeable technical support staff can help in your selection.

For more information contact TESSCO
at 888-256-9220 or e-mail us today.