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Network managers driven by frugality, patriotism or both, might want to consider the WideBand WB28GMPRO, a low-cost managed Gigabit Ethernet switch made in the American heartland.
In a market awash in Layer-2 managed Ethernet switches, this device's key differentiator is its list price of $3,328.That's far less than prices for managed access switches from major vendors such as Cisco, Extreme and Foundry Networks, but higher than managed switches from Dell and HP However, with 28 ports instead of the usual 24,WideBands device offers higher port density
WideBand says it gains a price advantage by manufacturing in Missouri, where labor costs are relatively low. Nearly all other network equipment is made in Asia, often through outsourcing to component assembly firms.
The WB28GMPRO performed well in some areas of our tests, while lacking polish in others. This is a fast switch, delivering line-rate throughput for all frame sizes in tests lasting 60 seconds, and near-line-rate throughput for tests lasting 300 seconds. Latency was in line with other low-cost gigabit switches we've tested.
On the downside, the switch's user interface is quite limited in terms of features supported,and we were unable to complete a test of link aggregation because of performance issues.
Switch setup is fast but not entirely straightforward. Most switches offer a command-line or Web interface, and usually both. In contrast, WideBand's Windows-based management software has a proprietary interface, accessible via serial or Ethernet ports.
That's where we hit our first snag: Software supplied with the switch would only communicate over a serial link attached to COM1 of a PC running Windows. That was a problem for us, because the machine we used for configuration allocated COM1 to an infrared port. Within a day WideBand released an updated version of the management software that let us select serial ports.
Even so, we'd be happier with a simple command-line interface (CLI) to the switch. A CLI also has the advantage of not requiring a given operating system or serial port.We'd be even happier if the switch management software supported secure Shell for remote access.
The management interface is serviceable but limited compared with competing offerings.The interface displays information about...