asterisk users - Jan 2007 - Any quiet 24 port POE switches out there?

I have an upcoming install which places the switch close to some
employees in a quiet work environment.  Can anyone recommend a quiet 24
port POE switch?  The Linksys SRW224P behind me right now would be
objectionable, I'm sure.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20070103/b9ee4d7f/attachment.htm

On 1/3/07, John French <jFrench@vividvoicedata.com>
wrote:
>
>  I have an upcoming install which places the switch close to some
> employees in a quiet work environment.  Can anyone recommend a quiet 24
port
> POE switch?
>

 The 8port Netgear switch on my desk doesn't have any fans. FS108p. Not sure
if they make a 24port switch or not.

-Brian
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20070103/789e64c3/attachment.htm

I suspect any 24port will have a fan. The Netgear FSM7326P are not  
too bad and we have had good luck with them.

ps - I also load their open source software.


On Jan 3, 2007, at 4:51 PM, John French wrote:
> I have an upcoming install which places the switch close to some  
> employees in a quiet work environment.  Can anyone recommend a  
> quiet 24 port POE switch?  The Linksys SRW224P behind me right now  
> would be objectionable, I'm sure.
> _______________________________________________
> --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
>
> asterisk-users mailing list
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>    http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

John French wrote:
> I have an upcoming install which places the switch close to some 
> employees in a quiet work environment.  Can anyone recommend a quiet 
> 24 port POE switch?  The Linksys SRW224P behind me right now would be 
> objectionable, I'm sure.
>
>  
>
You will need a fanless switch like the 16 Port Netgear FS116P (8 port 
PoE and the rest are normal)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1697260&sku=N100-2058

>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>_______________________________________________
>--Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
>
>asterisk-users mailing list
>To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>   http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
>  
>

Am Mittwoch, den 03.01.2007, 16:51 -0600 schrieb John
French:
> I have an upcoming install which places the switch close to some
> employees in a quiet work environment.  Can anyone recommend a quiet
> 24 port POE switch?  The Linksys SRW224P behind me right now would be
> objectionable, I'm sure.
I had to browse through the list of switches on the market recently for
different features.

Most switches do not feature an "acoustic" entry in their description.
Even those described as desktop devices... and just with it being named
a desktop device does not necessarily give you a silent device, au
contraire.

All I found was the Nortel BAS220 48T (with 24 out of 48 ports PoE
compliant), nominal 43.8 dB on the datasheet. I do not know that device,
but noise information on PoE switches seems not to be a thing that
manufacturers are proud of.

I guess building a 1u-switch with an included 300W++ power adaptor
requires active cooling, and the smaller the fans, the noisier the
whirl.

Maybe using several, smaller switches could do the trick for you. Brian
Roy mentioned the Netgear FS108p (with external power adaptor,
noiseless) as 8-port device. There is also a "larger brother" of it,
the
FS116P, which also comes with an external power supply, does PoE on
eight of its 16 ports. I have no idea of your overall bandwidth
requirements, but if it is only about phones, 100 MBit should be by far
sufficient for those 20 devices, so you could cascade switches (like
plugging two FS108p into non-PoE ports on a single FS116P, for
instance). This is of course the cheapo way of doing it. Getting a
proper multi-port switch, perhaps even a "real brand" one would be
(ask
the drooling sales droids out there) would be the real deal.

<rant>
Talking about NetGear switches, I once bought a 24port Gigabit Netgear
switch, noiseless, external PSU. It was meant to be screwed to a table
from below (in a classroom environment) with four metal brackets. The
switch kept crashing (not letting any data through) in that environment,
situation only changed when mounting that switch to a wall (with the
CAT6 cables hanging straight down from the plugs) - temperature problem
(which was "not bad enough" to go into warranty exchange. "Just
do not
use the switch in a hot environment". 20?C in a boring computer lab) On
a non-PoE device, with far less than 300W power to go through.
</rant>

I personally do not trust wall-wart (a.k.a. external power supply)
switches too much. I do not think it is a problem in principle, but
those devices with internal power supply just tend to be better for me.
YMMV. 

If you find something worthy, with a decent sound, please report back to
the list so others can share a good experience.

BR
Anselm

On Wed, Jan 03, 2007 at 04:51:23PM -0600, John French
said:
> I have an upcoming install which places the switch close to some
> employees in a quiet work environment.  Can anyone recommend a quiet 24
> port POE switch?  The Linksys SRW224P behind me right now would be
> objectionable, I'm sure.
While I can't answer that particular question, have you considered
passive noise reduction techniques such as reorientation / relocation?

Sometimes just turning a component 90 degrees (horizontally or
vertically) can reduce the perceived noise... 

Then there is the option of using some kind of enclosure... Usually
enclosures can reduce noise greatly while not significantly impacting
cooling (such as a wall-mount cabinet.) Also, the use of noise absorbing
materials can help. (google for acoustical panels and acoustical foam)

Obviously, locating equipment like this in a "quiet" workspace is not
ideal...

> I have an upcoming install which places the switch close to some employees
> in a quiet work environment.  Can anyone recommend a quiet 24 port POE
> switch?  The Linksys SRW224P behind me right now would be objectionable,
I'm
> sure.
How about the Linksys SRW208MP?  I don't have one (yet), but I don't
think they have any fans in them, so they should be quieter.  It has
an AC Adaptor anyway, so no internal Power Supply.

- Noah