Managed switches

Managed switches route Ethernet traffic between devices while giving administrators control over VLANs, port settings and traffic priority.

Selection depends on port count and speed (1GbE, 2.5GbE, 10GbE), total PoE budget in watts under IEEE 802.3af/at/bt, and uplink capacity for backbone connections. Layer 2 switches handle VLAN tagging and QoS; Layer 3 models add inter-VLAN routing for larger networks.

• Port count and speed — match to connected device count and required throughput per port
• PoE budget — total wattage across ports under 802.3af (15.4 W), 802.3at (30 W) or 802.3bt (60/90 W)
• Management layer — Layer 2 for VLANs and QoS, Layer 3 for inter-VLAN routing