10GbE (10GBASE-T) Switch - Edimax XGS-5008

[Magebarf]

Ran across this switch yesterday, but as far as I can tell it should have been on the market since mid last year or so:

https://www.edimax.com/edimax/merch...dimax/global/smb_switches_web_smart/xgs-5008/

The reason I noticed it was because it is so compact, that it really stood out in the product listing images when looking at 10Gbit/s switches.

8 x 10GBASE-T ports and "Smart managed" , which I can't really say how advanced features it contains as I've never come across a Edimax switch in the wild before. I could find an unboxing video in Spanish on Youtube, and another video that goes through the Web configuration interface. Not much of reviews to be found either.

From the images it seems to have a fan, but with a total power budget of 24W it's possible it doesn't need to be that loud.

Anyone encountered one of these yet and have any experience with them?
For being released "so late" I would have expected them to be NBASE-T, rather than 10GBASE-T, but at its price point it can probably be forgiven.

 

[System Error Message]

seems like a lot of barf to clean up
Its not a compact form factor, even mikrotik and ubiquiti have compact form factors as well to the point where the ports are the size of it. Its a standard form factor switch, likely using an older SoC which requires active cooling.

It doesnt have many features for its smartness so thats a dead giveaway of an older SOC, plenty of those around as people switch to newer chips so older ones get bought cheap.

 

[Magebarf]

seems like a lot of barf to clean up
Its not a compact form factor, even mikrotik and ubiquiti have compact form factors as well to the point where the ports are the size of it. Its a standard form factor switch, likely using an older SoC which requires active cooling.

It doesnt have many features for its smartness so thats a dead giveaway of an older SOC, plenty of those around as people switch to newer chips so older ones get bought cheap.

I both agree, and don't agree fully;

For a generic switch, fully agree, it's not all that compact.
For a 10GbE switch, yep, it's not one of the more compact ones either (I guess we're thinking CRS309, CRS305 etc.).
For a 10GBASE-T switch however, I don't think I've seen anything near it in size?

Of course, one could argue that equipping your CRS309/CRS305 with NBASE-T SFP+ modules would get you there, and then we have valid points, but it also brings up the cost.

As for UBNT, the don't have anything switching with 10Gbit ports that aren't full rack width; XGS-5008 is 210mm wide while both EdgeSwitch 16XG and Unifi Switch 16XG are 443mm wide.
So, the Edimax is just about half rack width, and a full 1U in height, but also a bit shorter in depth (160mm vs 221mm) than the UBNTs.
The CRS305 is really itty bitty in comparison though, so if you're good with 4 10GbE ports (SFP+ still) it's a good option.
The CRS309 looks about the same size (couldn't find specs on it), but consisting in half of a big heat sink, to remain passively cooled.

As you say, I guess old SoC is the main reason for my initial criticism about 10GBASE-T instead of NBASE-T.

And generally, Edimax in my mind is not really associated with switches, so I'm a bit skeptic about their managed functionality, but hopefully they cover the basics good!

 

[System Error Message]

I both agree, and don't agree fully;

For a generic switch, fully agree, it's not all that compact.
For a 10GbE switch, yep, it's not one of the more compact ones either (I guess we're thinking CRS309, CRS305 etc.).
For a 10GBASE-T switch however, I don't think I've seen anything near it in size?

Of course, one could argue that equipping your CRS309/CRS305 with NBASE-T SFP+ modules would get you there, and then we have valid points, but it also brings up the cost.

As for UBNT, the don't have anything switching with 10Gbit ports that aren't full rack width; XGS-5008 is 210mm wide while both EdgeSwitch 16XG and Unifi Switch 16XG are 443mm wide.
So, the Edimax is just about half rack width, and a full 1U in height, but also a bit shorter in depth (160mm vs 221mm) than the UBNTs.
The CRS305 is really itty bitty in comparison though, so if you're good with 4 10GbE ports (SFP+ still) it's a good option.
The CRS309 looks about the same size (couldn't find specs on it), but consisting in half of a big heat sink, to remain passively cooled.

As you say, I guess old SoC is the main reason for my initial criticism about 10GBASE-T instead of NBASE-T.

And generally, Edimax in my mind is not really associated with switches, so I'm a bit skeptic about their managed functionality, but hopefully they cover the basics good!

Never mentioned mikrotik/ubiquiti, both of them and other brands cater their 10G switches to customers with more money. I remember that both dlink and netgear did recently release 8 port entry level 10Gb/s ethernet switches too.

 

[Magebarf]

Never mentioned mikrotik/ubiquiti, both of them and other brands cater their 10G switches to customers with more money. I remember that both dlink and netgear did recently release 8 port entry level 10Gb/s ethernet switches too.

Yes, agreed, UBNT/Mikrotik is a slightly different market.
I don't think the Mikrotik CRS series are, price wise, that off from the Netgear and D-Link models however.

If you're looking at switches with up to 2x 10GbE uplink, there are a few options for desktop models, especially Netgear GS110EMX (and its unmanaged version, GS110MX), and Asus has an unmanaged model XG-U2008.
D-link however only seems to have full 1U rack units for even a few 10GbE ports of uplink.

For a switch equipped with only 10GBASE-T/NBASE-T (which I know does not really fit the most common use cases) I've only seen full 1U rack models.
The closest thing is the Netgear M4300 which has 50/50 split between SFP+ and RJ45 with 8 ports of each for the smallest, and 20 x RJ45 and 4 x RJ45/SFP+ combo ports, both models which are half 1U rack size.
The smallest M4300 is about 4 times the price of this Edimax in my regional market, and the larger models are roughly 6 times the price.

Netgear by the way have a very good summary page about all their 10G offerings: http://info.netgear.com/NA_10g
They also have a really strange behemoth at roughly 3/4 1U Rack width with 4 x 1G, 2 x 1/2.5G, 2 x 1/2.5/5G and 2 x 10G ports (1 RJ45 & 1 SFP+), with and without PoE on everything slower than 10G: https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/switches/MS510TX-MS510TXPP.pdf

So, I still see a good slot the Edimax may fill. I know I couldn't fit any 6+ ports 10GbE switch in my media cabinet (too small for full rack units).
One option could be the Mikrotik CRS305, but then I'd have to branch it out into an additional gigabit switch in the media cabinet, which then would be quite cramped.

 

[System Error Message]

Yes, agreed, UBNT/Mikrotik is a slightly different market.
I don't think the Mikrotik CRS series are, price wise, that off from the Netgear and D-Link models however.

If you're looking at switches with up to 2x 10GbE uplink, there are a few options for desktop models, especially Netgear GS110EMX (and its unmanaged version, GS110MX), and Asus has an unmanaged model XG-U2008.
D-link however only seems to have full 1U rack units for even a few 10GbE ports of uplink.

For a switch equipped with only 10GBASE-T/NBASE-T (which I know does not really fit the most common use cases) I've only seen full 1U rack models.
The closest thing is the Netgear M4300 which has 50/50 split between SFP+ and RJ45 with 8 ports of each for the smallest, and 20 x RJ45 and 4 x RJ45/SFP+ combo ports, both models which are half 1U rack size.
The smallest M4300 is about 4 times the price of this Edimax in my regional market, and the larger models are roughly 6 times the price.

Netgear by the way have a very good summary page about all their 10G offerings: http://info.netgear.com/NA_10g
They also have a really strange behemoth at roughly 3/4 1U Rack width with 4 x 1G, 2 x 1/2.5G, 2 x 1/2.5/5G and 2 x 10G ports (1 RJ45 & 1 SFP+), with and without PoE on everything slower than 10G: https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/switches/MS510TX-MS510TXPP.pdf

So, I still see a good slot the Edimax may fill. I know I couldn't fit any 6+ ports 10GbE switch in my media cabinet (too small for full rack units).
One option could be the Mikrotik CRS305, but then I'd have to branch it out into an additional gigabit switch in the media cabinet, which then would be quite cramped.

As for me the rack mount is better, as i have a 4U portable rack that my network stuff go on. And yes mikrotik is the cheapest on the market for 10Gb/s, ubiquiti has partial SFP+ and 10Gb/s ethernet. This is for full 10Gb/s switches, currently using a 16port SFP+ switch which goes well with my setup as everything 10Gb/s isnt far, i believe ethernet also has some limitations in distance too for 10Gb/s. 10Gb/s ethernet interface costs more than SFP+ but SFP+ direct costs is in the cable, the longer the cable the more it costs.

Dlink and netgear are overpriced, if this edimax switch costs around $200 or less then it is ready to go into the home market.