Linksys® today announced its first managed switches in the Linksys Business product line-up to complement its portfolio of business networking products. With the latest addition the Linksys Business line-up now includes a full range of cost effective routing, switching, VPN, wireless and IP Surveillance solutions. The new managed switches are available in a 28 and 52-port rack mountable chassis, with and without Power over Ethernet Plus. Managed switches offer more advanced security and bandwidth control for IT administrators compared to smart and unmanaged switches, to ensure stability of the business network.

"We have developed the entire Linksys Business product portfolio from scratch," said Steven Lin, director product management for Linksys Business products. "Therefore we have been able to focus on including all the latest technologies and features that enable businesses to power a robust network of multiple connected devices, all through a single switch. For those whose devices require more power, such as videophones and dual-band wireless access points, these can now be connected by a switch with PoE+ - allowing a single cable to provide both data connection and electrical power for a fully integrated network."

Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+)
The PoE+ models support the latest IEEE 802.3at (PoE+) standard and provide up to a 30W power budget per Ethernet port while offering IEEE 802.3af (PoE) backward compatibility. PoE+ simplifies and reduces complex technology deployments such as IP telephony, wireless AP, and IP surveillance by allowing IT administrators to connect and power devices over a single Ethernet cable at a lower cost.

Quality of Service
Numerous QoS features ensure that traffic can be prioritised properly to deliver the best possible user experience for real-time applications like voice and video along with bandwidth intensive graphic/video file uploads and downloads. Advanced QoS features enable per flow base quality of service control and rate limits to enforce SLA requirements.

Network Security
Linksys Managed Switches feature port authentication and MAC-based port security, requiring clients to authenticate themselves before any data is passed. Advanced DHCP snooping and IP-MAC-Port binding functions ensure network integrity and help prevent network attacks. These advanced features enable businesses to secure their network environment and prevent unauthorised access to the network and mission-critical data.

Network Expansion
Linksys Managed Switches include features for quickly expanding and growing your network. Multiple high-bandwidth trunks between switches enhance availability and  redundancy. Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and Storm Control features help control planned or inadvertent cable loops, so administrators can confidently build a mesh of switches and quickly expand their network to support the organisation's growing workforce. With additional Gigabit or 10-Gigabit uplink SFP/SFP+ fiber-optic port expansions for servers and data centers, Linksys Managed Switches provide an ideal combination of business scalability and affordability.

Features of the new Linksys Managed Switches:

Layer 3 static routing
24 or 48 Gigabit Ethernet ports
Two combo mini-GBIC (SFP) ports
Two 10-Gigabit uplink Ethernet SFP+ ports (LGS552P and LGS552)
Integrated Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) (LGS528P and LGS552P)
Energy Efficient Ethernet Technology (802.3az)
Port and Tag based VLAN support for up to 1024 VLANs (802.1Q)
Automatic Voice VLAN, Guest VLAN and Dynamic VLAN assignment
Tagged or Port based QoS support (802.1P)
Storm Control - Broadcast, Multicast, and Unknown Unicast
IGMP Snooping, Rapid Spanning Tree- RSTP, BPDU flooding/filtering
Advanced Quality of Service (QoS) support with layer 2/3/4 Traffic Prioritization - Voice, Video, and Data
Advanced Network Security support 802.1X Port Security and DHCP Snooping
Web-based and SNMP Management Interface