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only sends data to the receiver
that is supposed to have access
to the given information. In this
way, a network doesn't overload
when data is sent. It also means
higher security as it is hard to
gain access to information not
meant for another computer.
Switch performance
Non-blocking and wired-speed
both refer to the performance of
an Ethernet switch. With a 24 port
10/100/1000 switch, if each port
is 2G in full duplex mode, then 24
ports means the device is a 48G
switch. When this volume of data
is passed through the switch, the
switch performance can be cat-
egorised as non-blocking or wired
speed. If the switch is connected to
another switch, or to a server that
uses network storage or transfers,
then non-blocking is essential.
Yet, how this is accomplished is
up to the vendor's switch design.
The user can only rely on the data
provided by the vendor. Other-
wise, the user must test the switch's
capability using tools such as
Spirent Testcenter Smartbits. It is
not possible to derive the switch's
capability from just the port
configuration. Let us now use the
Spirent Testcenter to test a switch
and see how the report shows that
it is "full wired-speed".
Testing a switch
As shown in figure 1, all cables
are connected and data transfers
set up between pairs of RJ45 ports
(check the option for "Bidirec-
tional"). Full duplex transfers of
different packs were also carried
out at the same time. If the test
showed that the device supports
"full wired-speed", then the num-
bers for "Aggregated Throughput"
and "Aggregated Theoretical Max"
The rapid development within
modern IP technology hasn´t
evaded the security industry. IP
surveillance systems are becom-
ing more and more popular and
2014 will be a historic year since
this is the year when the CCTV
and video surveillance market
will come to a "tipping point",
with revenue for network video
overtaking analogue for the first
time ever, according to a new
report entitled "The World Market
for CCTV and Video Surveillance
Equipment" from IMS Research.
In other words, an increas-
ing number of new surveillance
projects are now completely
IP-based and they need quali-
tative network equipment to
work properly. There are a lot of
different network peripherals on
the market, but a main question
is: how do you choose and use
them efficiently to ensure your
system reaches the maximum
performance in every operating
environment?
All available image monitoring
and traffic processing capabili-
ties of a device can and should of
course always be tested in the
hunt for optimised performance.
However, these assessments of
different types of IT devices have
to be done correctly in order for
the output data to provide critical
information on the device capa-
bilities. Here we examine the com-
monly heard of "backbone full
wired speed" and "PoE capability"
to see how these functions should
be defined and tested.
Key product switches*
One large product group that is
important to know about when
setting up a camera system for
IP surveillance is switches. A
network switch, or switching
hub, is a computer networking
device that connects network seg-
ments. The network switch plays
an integral part in most modern
Ethernet local area networks
(LANs), and a network can have
more than one switch. The switch
Detektor Security Academy is an educational concept in which Detektor magazine, together with selected security technology leaders,
have cooperated to produce, distribute and promote essential information about the opportunities that today's security technology can offer.
In this article, sponsored by EtherWAN, Detektor Security Academy will explain how to choose a suitable network switch for IP surveil-
lance systems. This is the sixth article within Detektor Security Academy.
Choosing the best network switch for IP surveillance
focusonbackbonefullwiredspeed,PoEcapabilityandtesting
"what are the most im-
por tant facts and pointers
when choosing a suiable
network switch for IP
surveillance systems?"
That is the theme for this
detektor Security Academy
article, which focuses on
switch network speed, Poe
compatibility and quality
assurance testing.
detektor has used the
ethernet product company
etherwAN as the compe-
tence source for the content.
Figure 2.
Example of a test report.
Figure 1.
All cables are connected and data transfers set up between pairs of RJ45 ports.
Sponsored by
SECURITY ACADEMY
Network switches for
IP surveillance