QNAP is moving beyond SMB storage and is branching out into solutions that include AI inferencing machines and networking. On the networking side, the company showed off a number of lower-end switches at Computex 2019. These 10GbE switches are designed to be a connection point between edge devices and the company’s 10GbE NAS units.
QNAP QSW-308S SFP+ 10GbE Switch
The QNAP QSW-308S is a 8x 1GbE RJ45 port switch along with a 3x SFP+ 10GbE switch. SFP+ connectivity allows one to use low-cost DACs for short range network runs and fiber links for longer runs.
The switch itself is based on the Marvell 88E6393 and is an unmanaged product. Another nice feature is that the switch is fanless. If you previously had an edge 10GbE switch with fans, this instead provides silent operation and removes a moving part as a point of failure.
QNAP QSW-308-1C 10GbE and NBASE-T Switch
The QNAP QSW-308-1C sounds similar to the QSW-308S based on the product name. That is because the switches are very similar. The “-1C” denotes one combo port so one of the SFP+ ports can instead be used as a 10Gbase-T port. That same port also supports NBASE-T networking for 2.5GbE and 5GbE speeds giving even more flexibility.
Like its sibling, the QNAP QSW-308-1C is a fanless unmanaged switch based on the Marvell 88E6393 chip.
Common Feature 90 Degree Rotating Power
One feature that may get lost in the spec sheet is the teal cylinder at the back of switches. This is a refreshing stylistic break from normal 90-degree angle box designs. It is also functional.
The design for the QNAP QSW-308S and QSW-308-1C allows for the power cable to be rotated through a 90-degree range of rotation. For the small office segment, this can help with deployments beyond the stylistic break from a pure white box.
If they’re as unreliable as the current switches like the QSW-1208-8C I advice to take a hard pass on these. Have not been able to get them running for more than a few weeks before requiring a reboot as they suddenly stop switching packets.
QNAP storage boxes suffer from a considerable mark up simply because of the label. If 10GbE is going to grow it’s market we need lower prices.
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