INTRODUCTION

   Whenever a familiar person (family or friend) comes asking for my advice in regard to setting up a local area network the very first i ask is whether that will be at home or at the office. Some of you may not be aware of this but although a regular modem/router will be sufficient for a local area network at home consisting by let's say 3-4 systems tops (even more wirelessly if data throughput performance is not an issue) for an office network with a far larger number of systems the obvious solution is using a extra switch (especially if PoE/+ - power over Ethernet - is a needed feature). Of course much like everything else in the market there are plenty of switches for one to choose from unmanaged models which don't require anything extra other than plugging your devices (plug and play) to smart models which combine SMB-oriented features with easy management and finally managed models which offer even more available settings for IT specialists (along with higher performance) compared to smart models. Unmanaged models may not offer any kind of management but have very little (if anything at all) to fear in terms of performance and since their lower price is also a big incentive for end users today we decided to test the LGS124P 24-Port Business PoE+ Switch by our friends over at Linksys.

   The Linksys brand has pioneered wireless connectivity since its inception in 1988 with its leading innovation and engineering strategies, and best-in-class technology, design, and customer service. Linksys enables a connected lifestyle for people at home, at work and on the move, and with its award-winning products, simplifies home control, entertainment, security and Internet access through innovative features and a growing application and partner ecosystem. Linksys is part of Belkin International.

   The LGS124P may be part of the unmanaged family of rack mount switches by Linksys but that doesn't mean it has no aces up its sleeve especially since it's one of the top models in that line. First and foremost it offers a grand total of 24 RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet ports all of which feature auto speed sensing (10/100/1000Mbps) for maximum performance on each connected device, QoS (quality of service) traffic prioritization for mission critical applications and auto sleep/standby for increased power savings. 12 of those ports also feature PoE+ 802.3at (power over Ethernet) with a combined maximum power budget of 120W (up to 10W max for each port). So the time has come for us to check and see how it performs.