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nagisa
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Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2023 12:04 am

Product idea: 1/2.5/5/10GbE PoE switch with a Mikrotik twist

Sun Mar 05, 2023 12:48 am

With current (6e) and next (7) generation Wireless APs, high-speed 5G modems and consumer-grade fiber now steadily gaining in throughput capabilities (and thus interfaces) in excess of 1Gb, there is a severe lack of switches that can serve needs of these use-cases.

Most users won't ever need to power more than 4 devices like these, so this would likely be a 4-or-so RJ45-port device. It would also need at least an SFP+ (or better) port to bridge/"stack" this switch into a larger switch, such as CRS310, CRS317 or similar. To the best of my knowledge UBNT is the only(?) manufacturer that makes a switch similar to this today. Unfortunately that product has a glaring downside which Mikrotik, I think, is well positioned to fix – its rack space utilization!

The selling point of this switch is its 200mm wide form factor, meaning you can mount this side-by-side next to a CRS310 or similar switch (e.g. CRS309 could benefit from a revision adjusting its width to 200mm) with the very nice RMK-2/10. Suddenly you've a CRS31* with powerful PoE ports, plenty of flexible SFP cages and an "unprecedented" modularity. Not to mention that this form factor also gives plenty of space for cooling this device effectively due to its comparatively low power density.

This probably isn't a particularly cheap switch to build, and that’s probably fine given the switch's positioning as a fairly niche device? Or maybe not given that 40€ 10GbE PoE injectors already exist?

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