Multi-gigabit performance for the home
Increased use of video conferencing for work and study at home, the growth in digital entertainment and gaming, and increased use of IP surveillance and WiFi, are putting more strain on bandwidth in the home – so it’s exactly the right time for Zyxel to be launching a new duo of simple, multi-gigabit switches for home use, says Luke Harley, Switching Market Development Manager EMEA at Zyxel.
Our growing appetite for more network bandwidth never ceases to amaze me. Not so many years ago, it seemed remarkable that we were moving to speeds of up to 1Gbps. But we are now going beyond even that level – and not only in the workplace, but also in the home.
You don’t need me to tell you that the world is always changing or that over the past year the pace of change has accelerated. More people are now working at home more often and making almost constant use of video conferencing and collaboration. Use of cloud services is also increasing, as organisations look to enable employees and / or students to work from any location just as effectively as if they were in the office, workplace, or classroom.
Soaring consumption
These factors have sent bandwidth consumption soaring and while the workplace network may have the infrastructure to cope, home users may not find it as easy to manage the increasing demands that everyday business tools and services put on their home network. This will be especially true in situations where more than one person is working and / or studying at home – and that’s just about every family household now.
When you add to this the increased use of digital entertainment, it’s easy to imagine how you could run into capacity issues with conventional WiFi. There are now more high-definition video streaming services, and the popularity of interactive, online gaming has exploded – and that uses a lot of bandwidth.
As a result of all this change, we’ve been seeing increased demand for network switches for home use – and in particular, for switches that can provide speeds of 1Gb and more. Frankly, we had some challenges in meeting all these requests as, up to now, our higher performance switches are really designed for business use and typically come with more functionality and ports than a home user would need.
Multiple connections
That’s about to change however, with the introduction of the MG-105 and MG-108 multi-gigabit switches. These devices have been specifically designed for home use. They are simple, unmanaged switches that are easy to install and manage and support throughput speeds of up to 2.5Gb. This makes them ideal for connecting multiple devices – computers being used for video conferencing or home schooling, digital TVs, gaming consoles, IP surveillance cameras and door cameras, and WiFi access points – that require a high bandwidth, wired connection to your router.
As the names suggest, they come with five and eight ports respectively and can be used with ordinary Cat5e cabling, which is inexpensive what most home networks use already. If you are struggling to meet the growing demands for bandwidth in the home, the Zyxel MG-105 and MG-108 multi-gigabit switches will be just what you need. Both switches will be available this summer. For more information, contact your nearest Zyxel office or trusted partner.
