I've a couple 10 port Cisco switches that support 2.5 and 5gbps over cat5e, just wondering if there are any other vendors out there with offerings that support these newer ethernet speeds. Supporting cat5e for these multi-gig speeds is a real boon in many circumstances given the wide popularity of it in many buildings.
Does anyone have any experience with or knowledge of other products, switches in particular, supporting 2.5 and 5 gbps?
Thanks.
It is really early days for this spec. I know there are a few SKUs are Cisco 3850 that have multi-gig support, but I don't know of anything else yet.
Hi,
I've a couple 10 port Cisco switches that support 2.5 and 5gbps over cat5e, just wondering if there are any other vendors out there with offerings that support these newer ethernet speeds. Supporting cat5e for these multi-gig speeds is a real boon in many circumstances given the wide popularity of it in many buildings.
Does anyone have any experience with or knowledge of other products, switches in particular, supporting 2.5 and 5 gbps?
well, until the standard is ratified, these Multi-Gig offerings are quite proprietary..
there are 2 competing camps....hopefully they will be compatible and not end up like beta/vhs once the dust settles
camp 1 - http://www.nbaset.org/
camp 2 - http://www.mgbasetalliance.org/
look at those vendors..... I think they hope by avoiding IEEE int he early stages and taping silicon they'll
get the job done quicker - the drive mainly being faster wireless APs and cheaper data centre interconnects...
alan
Fortunately the two groups came together in the IEEE, and there are no
competing standards.
IEEE P802.3bz 2.5/5GBASE-T Task Force stared in March 2015:
- 2.5GBASE-T: 4 x 625 Mb/s over 100 m Cat 5e (Class D) or Cat 6 (Class E) unshielded twisted-pair copper cabling
- 5GBASE-T: 4 x 1.250 Gb/s over 100 m Cat 5e (Class D) or Cat 6 (Class E) unshielded twisted-pair copper cabling
- MultiGBASE-T auto-negotiation between 2.5GBASE-T, 5GBASE-T, 10GBASE-T, 25GBASE-T, 40GBASE-T
- Automatic MDI/MDI-X configuration
- PoE support including IEEE 802.3bt amendment (power over 4 pairs)
- Optional Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) support
- Standard expected in September 2016
- Interfaces expected on the market in 2016
- Task Force web page http://www.ieee802.org/3/bz/
You might have seen my Ethernet speeds presentation... the most recent
one is here:
http://ix.br/pttforum/9/slides/ixbr9-ethernet.pdf (December 2015)
It's slightly out of date as the IEEE Interim was just last week.
Greg
Hi,
Fortunately the two groups came together in the IEEE, and there are no
competing standards.
right! so why do both keep updating their own marketing and web pages each month? 
thanks for the info though - our future world isnt messed up for multigig
- Optional Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) support
*optional* - in our current energy efficiency/green aligned world this should be mandatory
- Standard expected in September 2016
okay.. so buying now is like buying pre-N 802.11 kit - it should work with final standard
but theres no cast-iron guarantee....new silicon might be required ?
thanks for the info though! 
alan
Will we also get 2.5 Gbps fiber optics? SFP modules should support it?
Regards
Baldur
Why wouldn't you go straight to 10G ?
The 2.5/5G standards were born *entirely* on the rationale that someone
wanted to get more out of the existing Cat5/Cat5e installed in
buildings, so yes, you should go to 10G if you're on fibre. 
The goals of these BASE-T projects are specifically to extend the life
of the large installed base of Cat 5e/6 cabling with higher speeds.
I wouldn't expect there to be a fiber interface, because we already have
much higher speeds that are supported on MMF/SMF at better costs (ie if
you had a fiber cable, would you really want to run 2.5 GE when 10 GE
is so affordable now). Anything is possible though, if there is enough
demand and a market then someone will make it.
Greg
The standard 24 or 48 port SFP+ switch is 10 times the price of the
equivalent switch with 24 or 48 port SFP. The same is true for the optics.
2.5 and 4 Gbit/s SFP modules are available and cheap. It is just that
ethernet ports will not take advantage of the extra speed. So it is only
useful on fibrechannel ports.
It would be an improvement if we can get 2.5 or 4 Gbit/s ethernet on SFP
instead of paying for an all SFP+ switch.
Regards,
Baldur
You're buying your switches and optics in the wrong places.
An SFP+ 10K w/ DOM is running me a little under $34. An SFP+ port runs
me slightly over $102. (Juniper)
Hi,
The standard 24 or 48 port SFP+ switch is 10 times the price of the
equivalent switch with 24 or 48 port SFP. The same is true for the optics.2.5 and 4 Gbit/s SFP modules are available and cheap. It is just that
ethernet ports will not take advantage of the extra speed. So it is only
useful on fibrechannel ports.It would be an improvement if we can get 2.5 or 4 Gbit/s ethernet on SFP
instead of paying for an all SFP+ switch.
The issue that causes the need for 2.5 and 4Gbps is older cable
(cat5) that can't do anything faster, not the switches. You still
need to replace the switches to use the faster speeds.
This isn't the same issue with fibre, which can already support
10Gbps+. So it's the same difference. Upgrade switch on copper to
go from 1 to 2.5/4 Gbps; upgrade switch on fibre to go from 1 to
10Gbps.
The only possibility is if you got a 2.5/4Gbps SFP that would work
in a current generation switch. I very much doubt that's going to
work (but happy to be proven wrong by those in the know).
In my experience 10Gbps switches now cost about the same as 1Gbps
switches did a few years ago, so it's only the optics that are
pricey. Unless you get them from one of the many cheap suppliers
around, in which case there's essentially no difference in cost.
Cheers,
Matthew
I'd love to know what model Juniper you are getting for $102 per 10GbE port and where you are getting it. The lowest-end 10GbE switch is the EX4600, which lists at more like $850 per port. You can get higher-end ones with much larger port counts and get the cost/port down to about half that, but I can't imagine what you could be talking about for $102/port.
I would kill for a 24-port 10GbE Juniper switch for ~$2,500. You can't even get a 24-port 1GbE for that.
thanks,
-Randy
Used?
+1, me too!
I'd love to know what model Juniper you are getting for $102 per
10GbE port and where you are getting it. The lowest-end 10GbE switch
is the EX4600, which lists at more like $850 per port. You can get
higher-end ones with much larger port counts and get the cost/port
down to about half that, but I can't imagine what you could be
talking about for $102/port.I would kill for a 24-port 10GbE Juniper switch for ~$2,500. You
can't even get a 24-port 1GbE for that.
a single asic trident+ switch with 56 10Gb/s ports is in the
neighborhood of 5k, less in volume... trident 2 is more.
lopping ports off doesn't make the asic any cheaper.
I wouldn't say that used or grey market really count as viable options. If we count that, I can get 1GbE for free.
The reality is that for a unit that is supported (both software releases and warranty) properly for deployment in mission critical situations, 10GbE costs ~10x 1GbE.
While the options you mention have their place, I would not say that any of them are "supported properly"
The ubiquiti unit would be very interesting to see, but the lack of support structure would steer me away for anything mission critical. Might be great for test-bed or home use, though.
Back on the original topic, I could certainly see a potential for 2.5 or 5 GbE (even optical) if the pricing was better than 10GbE. My guess is that by the time 2.5/5 is really available, 10GbE will be enough more affordable to skip over the 2.5/5 stuff.
thanks,
-Randy
Um. You don't have an option for old copper plants. This stuff gives you 2.5gig or 5gig on cat5/cat5e (depending on distance).
If you can do 10g you really shouldn't be carrying about this stuff. In the optical world just jump to using 10Gig (where you can)
alan
Dear Mr. Carpenter,
Juniper is expensive. If you buy a new 48 x 10GbE/SFP+ fiberswitch from an H3C based vendor like Huawei, you get the whole unit for $10,000. All you need in addition to that are the lasers and these will set you back a hundred bucks per port in case you select 1310nm SFP+ modules (SMF 80km duplex), rendering a total price of less than $300 per interface,
Best regards,
Jonas Bjork
ISP Senior Network Engineer
I would kill for a 24-port 10GbE Juniper switch for ~$2,500. You
can't even get a 24-port 1GbE for that.
EX4200s are abundant for much less in Ebay (for the 24port 1g requirement).
In the 10G space though, indeed, Juniper is expensive.