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<p align="center"></p><p><p>ZyXEL has a track record of making affordable networking equipment for both home users and service providers. Post-CES, the company has made a couple of product line announcements that warrant perusal from those keeping track ofdevelopments in the wired networking space.</p>

<h3>Affordable 10G Switches</h3>

<p>The first product line targets enterprise users thinking about shifting to 10G. With platform advancements bringing down the price and power consumption for 10GBASE-T switches, we have seen a host of affordable switches enter the market from various manufacturers. Netgear took the lead a couple of years back with a number of ProSafe 10GBASE-T switches starting at $1400 for the 8-port model. A couple of years down the road, the prices have come down considerably (slightly more than $800 for the 8-port model).</p>

<p>ZyXEL is now entering the affordable 10GBASE-T market with two switches, the Web Smart XS1920-12 and the L2 Managed XS3700-24. The two models are compared in the table below</p>

<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 90%;">
<tbody>
<tr class="tgrey">
<td colspan="3">ZyXEL XS1920-12 vs. XS3700-24 Comparison</td>
</tr>
<tr class="tlblue">
<td>Aspect</td>
<td>XS1920-12</td>
<td>XS3700-24</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">Switch Class</td>
<td align="center">Smart Managed</td>
<td align="center">Layer 2 Plus (Layer 3 Lite)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">Port Distribution</td>
<td align="center">10x 10GBASE-T

2x 10G (SFP/RJ-45)</td>
<td align="center">8x 10GBASE-T

12x 10G SFP+

4x10G (SFP/RJ-45)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">MSRP (USD)</td>
<td align="center">$1865</td>
<td align="center">$3860</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">Switching Capacity (Gbps)</td>
<td align="center">240</td>
<td align="center">480</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">Forwarding Capacity (Mpps)</td>
<td align="center">178.6</td>
<td align="center">357.14</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">Packet Buffer (Byte)</td>
<td align="center">2M</td>
<td align="center">4M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">MAC Address Table</td>
<td align="center">16K</td>
<td align="center">16K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">IP Address Table</td>
<td align="center">-</td>
<td align="center">512</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">Routing Entries</td>
<td align="center">-</td>
<td align="center">64</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">Routing Domains</td>
<td align="center">-</td>
<td align="center">128</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">Management</td>
<td align="center">IPv6 Management

Web GUI</td>
<td align="center">IPv6 Management

CLI

Web GUI

Out-of-bound Management Port</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">Static IP Routing</td>
<td align="center">-</td>
<td align="center">Yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">VRRP</td>
<td align="center">-</td>
<td align="center">Yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">Spanning Tree (STP/MSTP/RSTP)</td>
<td align="center">Yes</td>
<td align="center">Yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">QoS Features</td>
<td align="center">802.1p QoS

8 priority queues

Data prioritization (SPQ/WRR/WFQ)

v1 IGMP snooping

MVR

12K jumbo frames</td>
<td align="center">802.1p QoS

8 priority queues

Data prioritization (SPQ/WRR/WFQ)

v1, v2, v3 IGMP snooping

MVR

12K jumbo frames</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">Security Features</td>
<td align="center">MAC freeze

802.1X authentication

TACACS+/RADIUS

L2/L3/L4 ACL security filter</td>
<td align="center">MAC freeze and intrusion lock

802.1X authentication

TACACS+/RADIUS

L2/L3/L4 ACL security filter

sFlow</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">Power Supply and Features</td>
<td align="center">100 - 240V AC, 50 / 60 Hz

Max. Power Consumption - 95.6 W</td>
<td align="center">100 - 240V AC, 50 / 60 Hz

Redundant Removable Power Supply Modules

Max. Power Consumption - 143.1 W (Single PSU), 161 W (Dual PSU)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">Physical Aspects</td>
<td align="center">17.32 x 12.99 x 1.75 in.

9.27 lbs

326 BTU/hr Heat Dissipation</td>
<td align="center">17.32 x 17.24 x 1.73 in.

16.3 lbs

488 (single PSU) / 549 (dual PSU) BTU/hr Heat Dissipation

Removable fan module</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<p>ZyXEL is also touting their ZON management platform which enables IT administrators to have a unified view and streamlined control of various devices in the network. The new 10G switches are obviously compatible with the ZON platform.</p>

<h3>UTM for Home Consumers</h3>

<p>Towards the middle of last year, ZyXEL updated their UTM (Unified Threat Management) solutions for SMBs. In what we believe is a first from any home networking equipment vendor, ZyXEL is marketing the 4-port solution in the home consumer market too. Security is becoming an important aspect of home networks (with the rise in popularity of home automation devices and other online activities making home consumers vulnerable to cyberattacks) and ZyXEL is hoping to latch on to this opportunity with the USG40HE.</p>

<p>The USG40HE has a WAN port and 3 LAN/DMZ ports. There is an additional port that can be configured as a secondary WAN or another LAN port. Claimed firewall and VPN throughputs are 400 Mbps and 100 Mbps respectively.</p>

<p align="center"></p>

<p>This UTM device / home network security product provides firewall capabilities, content filtering, traffic prioritization depending on application recognition, intrusion detection and prevention and optional anti-virus / anti-spam capabilities. Similar to the tradition in the SMB market, ZyXEL is bundling a 1-yr license for the UTM services. Street price seems to be around $250, while the business edition is closer to $300. The latter comes with anti-virus and anti-spam licenses for 1 year, while the home edition makes them optional.</p>

<p>As home networks become more and more powerful, we believe the trend in the market (at least for power users) will be to move from an advanced Wi-Fi router to a gateway / wired router + Wi-Fi access point. The USG40-HE does fit into that scenario. That said, the 1-yr licensing for <span class="il">UTM</span> capabilities works well in

business use-cases, but it might create a negative mindset for home consumers who are not used to such business models. It will be interesting to see how this product fares in the market.</p>
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Source: AnandTech
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