50-Port Dual Web Rack Switch
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Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 About This Guide

Congratulations on your purchase of the 48+4G-Port 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet Web Smart
Switch. This device integrates 1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet, 100Mbps Fast Ethernet and 10Mbps
Ethernet network capabilities in a highly flexible package. This guide discusses how to install your
48+4G-Port 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet Web Smart Switch.

1.2 Terms/Usage

In this guide, the term “Switch” (first letter upper case) refers to your 48+4G-Port 10/100/1000Mbps
Gigabit Ethernet Web Smart Switch, and “switch” (first letter lower case) refers to other Ethernet
switches

1.3 Switch Features

This chapter describes the features of the 48+4G-Port 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet Web Smart
Switch and some background information about Ethernet/Fast Ethernet/Gigabit Ethernet switching
technology.
Gigabit Ethernet Technology
Gigabit Ethernet is an extension of IEEE 802.3 Ethernet utilizing the same packet structure, format,
and support for CSMA/CD protocol, full duplex, flow control, and management objects, but with a
tenfold increase in theoretical throughput over 100-Mbps Fast Ethernet and a hundredfold increase
over 10-Mbps Ethernet. Since it is compatible with all 10-Mbps and 100-Mbps Ethernet environments,
Gigabit Ethernet provides a straightforward upgrade without wasting a company’s existing investment
in hardware, software, and trained personnel.
The increased speed and extra bandwidth offered by Gigabit Ethernet is essential to coping with the
network bottlenecks that frequently develop as computers and their busses get faster and more users
use applications that generate more traffic. Upgrading key components, such as your backbone and
servers to Gigabit Ethernet can greatly improve network response times as well as significantly speed
up the traffic between your subnets.
Gigabit Ethernet enables fast optical fiber connections to support video conferencing, complex
imaging, and similar data-intensive applications. Likewise, since data transfers occur 10 times faster
than Fast Ethernet, servers outfitted with Gigabit Ethernet NIC’s are able to perform 10 times the
number of operations in the same amount of time.
In addition, the phenomenal bandwidth delivered by Gigabit Ethernet is the most cost-effective
method to take advantage of today and tomorrow’s rapidly improving switching and routing