Small Business Switch Selector

Which brand do you prefer?

Aventis Systems carries Cisco, Dell, and HP switches. Features offered by each manufacturer may vary. Our Dell and HP models include entry level options with lower port counts while our Cisco models tend to be more full-featured.

Do you prefer a managed or an unmanaged switch?

Managed switches offer advanced features to configure, managed and monitor your LAN. They provide more control over how data travels over the network.

Unmanaged switches are typically "plug and play" and ship with a fixed configuration. They simply allow Ethernet devices (such as a PC or network printer) to communicate with each other, without the advanced features found in managed switches.

Do you prefer Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet?

Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) runs at 1000 mbps to support quick transfers of large files. GbE models offer increased network speeds to consistent streaming and support bandwidth-intensive applications and files. GbE models are backward compatible to support Fast Ethernet devices.

Fast Ethernet runs at 100 mbps to support basic networking needs like sharing a printer. Fast Ethernet can provide basic bandwidth for those that do not need to consistently handle large data files.

Do you require a stackable switch?

Stacking multiple switches ensures your network stays up even if a switch goes down. A stack of switches is treated by the network as a single entity to simplify management and troubleshooting.

Do you require uplink ports?

Uplink ports are special ports designed to expand a network by allowing the linking of additional devices. Uplink ports often support higher bandwidth than the standard ports, for example 1GbE or 10GbE.