Managed switches provide organizations with more advanced network management and control capabilities, enabling them to build more secure, efficient, flexible and easy-to-maintain corporate networks. This is critical to meeting the growing business needs of organizations, improving employee productivity and securing data.
So why do medium to large organizations need to use managed switches? What is the difference between managed and unmanaged switches?
In terms of management capabilities, managed switches have management capabilities and can be configured and monitored through network management protocols such as SNMP, while unmanaged switches usually do not have management interfaces and cannot be configured through network management protocols.
In terms of configuration and control, managed switches allow administrators to configure the switch in detail, allowing for finer-grained control of network traffic, whereas unmanaged switches typically do not offer advanced configuration options that allow for deep customization.
In terms of monitoring and troubleshooting, managed switches have more powerful monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities. Administrators can view network traffic, port status, device connectivity, and perform troubleshooting. Unmanaged switches, on the other hand, usually lack advanced monitoring and troubleshooting tools.
Obviously, managed switches offer more configuration options, monitoring capabilities, and troubleshooting, making them more suitable for medium to large organizations that are flexible and volatile.
Cisco, the industry's leading provider of network equipment, offers a family of managed switches that provide powerful solutions for medium and large enterprises, with the Cisco Catalyst family of products best suited to meet the needs of medium and large enterprises.
Cisco's Catalyst Series is a group of highly reliable, flexible, and powerful managed switches that deliver high performance and high throughput to provide high-speed data transfer for organizations. Their flexible port configurations meet the connectivity needs of different devices.
In terms of environments, the Catalyst family of managed switches is suitable for a diverse range of scenarios in medium to large organizations, including but not limited to:
Enterprise Data Center: Used to build high-performance, scalable data center networks, supporting virtualization and cloud computing environments.
Campus Network: For large-scale campus networks, providing powerful connectivity and management functions to support teaching and administrative business needs.
Branch network: Used to connect branch offices distributed in different geographical locations to realize secure and reliable remote office and data exchange.
The following is a comparison of the benefits of the Cisco Catalyst family of products so that organizations can select the appropriate managed switch for their needs.
Series | Dominance | Applicable Scenarios | Prices |
Catalyst 9000 |
Advanced hardware and software features support high-density ports, high-speed data transfer, programmability and network intelligence.
| Large enterprise data centers, complex network environments, scenarios requiring high performance and programmability | Usually higher |
Catalyst 6000 |
High-density, high-performance, suitable for large enterprises and data centers, supports modular design.
| Large enterprises, data centers, scenarios requiring modular design and high performance. | mid-to-high range |
Catalyst 4000 |
Provides high performance and flexibility for the edge and core of enterprise networks.
| Scenarios requiring high performance and reliability at the edge and core of enterprise networks. | mid-range |
Catalyst 3000 |
Reliability, high performance and security for small and medium-sized business networks.
| Small and medium-sized businesses, branch office networks, scenarios requiring reliability and high performance. | conveniently situated |
Catalyst 2000 |
businesses or departments, providing basic switching functionality.
| Small business, small office networks, for basic switching needs. | relatively low |
Overall, when choosing a managed switch, medium and large enterprises select the applicable model by fully understanding their needs and network scenarios, and make full use of its advanced features to build a high-performance, secure and reliable network that provides strong support for their business.
