Another entry onto the cisco scene is the catalyst 4948 switch. 48 ports with four G-bic options for either fiber optics or standard RJ45 cables.
setting up: this is made quite simple by the console port on the back. Using a program such as hyperterminal willl allow you to access the flash drive, and change the settings
ease of setup: quite an easy switch to setup, it has the usual kind of cisco program, with the easy option to upgrade the firmware/ software on it. To setup a Vlan, you use the configuration terminal within. (conft)
Breakabiltity: as it says on the box really: fragile. It can stand the usual bumps and scratches with its metal casing, but if dropped will usually break one of the ports.
Flashing: using the console port, you can set it up to flash the firmware, and put either an upgrade or downgrade on using the onboard ports. all you have to do is set your pc as an ftp server, and simply use the get/put commands to put the next set on.
Price: perhaps a bit over priced for what you get, but im sure withing the next couple of years, this will come down, and it will be functional in almost every office.
customer support: with the cisco name written on it, this certainly has the support you would want it to come with. cisco will often do RMA's on these.
All in all, a good switch, with some good networking capabilites
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