3Com Unified Switch for SMBs

3Com announced the industry’s first unified switch for small and medium businesses that converges wired and wireless networking functionality and includes Power over Ethernet (PoE) to support Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony on a single platform

The 3ComUnified Gigabit Wireless PoE Switch 24 is designed for SMBs that want all of the elements of a business-class network, as well as a platform for delivering advanced communications solutions such as wireless and VoIP, in one box.

Purpose-built for organizations with 5 to 250 users, the 3Com Unified Switch enables organizations to manage all critical networking functions as one device because they are all integrated in a single unit. The switch is ideal for SMBs that have limited resources dedicated to managing and upgrading their network.

3Com delivers dual mode access points that are shipped as standalone APs but that can be converted to managed APs as the user grows its wireless infrastructure and wants to take advantage of a seamlessly managed wireless network. The 3Com AP7760 single radio 802.11a/b/g and AP8760 dual radio APs are easily converted from standalone to managed mode with the simple click of a button on the graphical user interface.

The 3Com Unified Switch for SMBs can be fully-managed via a Web interface that features a simple five click set up wizard, or by the CLI, Telnet, Console and SNMP interfaces if desired. With full management capabilities, 3Com VARs can configure and deploy the switch as part of a managed solution for SMBs that want to outsource their network.

The 3Com Unified Switch for SMBs is scheduled to be available globally from 3Com channel partners within 30 days at a list price of $2750 USD. The 3Com Wireless 7760 11a/b/g PoE Access Point is currently available worldwide at a list price of $249 USD, and the 3Com Wireless 8760 Dual-Radio 11a/b/g PoE Access Point is currently available worldwide at a list price of $399 USD.

The 3Com Unified Switch includes:

  • Full, Layer 2 line rate gigabit speeds with zero packet loss across all 24 ports;
  • Full 802.3af Power over Ethernet support available on each of its 24 ports;
  • Auto-voice VLAN capability;
  • 802.1X authentication;
  • Wireless WPA2 security and AES encryption;
  • Rogue wireless access point detection and mitigation;
  • Wireless fast roaming and automatic load balancing across managed APs; and
  • Support for emerging standards such as 802.11