Review: HP Procurve Switch 1800 Series

Smarter than your average Ethernet switch with functionality small businesses will like

The Switch Series 1800 is designed for businesses wanting more than a basic unmanaged switch but without the complexity of full-on managed products.

Two switches are available. One with eight Gigabit ports, the 1800-8G, and a larger 24-port model, the 1800-24G. 10/100/1,000Base-T auto-sensing ports have two dual-personality GBIC slots on the 1800-24G for optional fibre uplinks.

The switches are solid and well made and were remarkably easy to configure. There’s no local management port or command-line interface (CLI) and only limited read-only SNMP support, leaving just a simple web-based GUI, clearly designed with part-time network managers in mind.

No real expertise is needed and we were quickly able to segment our test network using the built-in Vlan technology and aggregate ports to create high-speed trunks to server farms and other networks. Not quite Layer 3, but easy to understand and set up, with Quality of Service and traffic prioritisation features also built in.

The lack of cooling fans in the 1800-8G makes it totally silent in operation. A small consideration in a packed data centre perhaps, but a major benefit in a shared branch office, school classroom or hospital ward. Unfortunately the extra heat generated by the 24-port model and its built-in power supply makes fans essential, but it’s pretty quiet too.

Other vendors have already addressed this ‘smart switch’ market, but HP has the advantage of the Procurve brand and a lifetime warranty with next-business-day replacement for as long as you own the product. Prices are competitive, making the Procurve Switch 1800 Series a good choice for companies looking for a little bit more from their network infrastructure.