Small offices going Gigabit

When it comes to performance, so much depends on what you do. Small shops may be small, but if they're using CAD/CAM, multimedia and other bandwidth-intensive applications, they'll enjoy the benefits of a gigabit hardware upgrade as much as a big firm. Prices are coming down, and vendors are responding with gigabit starter kits aimed at small to midsize networks.

Even so, questions remain about performance. Would a typical small office using Word or Excel benefit from a gigabit upgrade? Most importantly, when is it worth the cost?

We tested equipment from 3Com, Compex, D-Link, Linksys and SMC, and our legacy 10/100 network configuration. We were pleased with the speed boost these kits offered, and impressed by the Linksys EG0801SK Instant Gigabit Etherfast 10/100/1000 8+1 Workgroup Gigabit Starter Kit.

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How we did it

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We found for a typical small office, 10/100 Ethernet network serving business applications, the processor speeds of client PCs and servers will prevent it from taking full advantage of the speed. So if your network's running fine, don't buy. But if you need new gear, good-quality gigabit is available for the same price as 10/100 equipment.

Noises off!

First off, 3Com sent us the wrong switch - one designed for a server room, complete with industrial strength fans. There wasn't time to get one of 3Com's SOHO/small- to midsize-business switches, so we continued testing the model we had.

Because most small-office equipment shares space with staff, noise is a big issue.

Linksys has done away with the fan altogether by designing a case punched with holes, which sits on a stand when stacked, ensuring adequate air flow among units. While the box was slightly warm to the touch, it never got hot. The silence isn't the only thing welcome - no fan equals one fewer point of failure. The Compex, D-Link and SMC switches used fans, but their noise wasn't bothersome.

Installation issues

Network interface card installations were uniformly easy: We turned off the server, swapped the existing NIC with the gigabit one, plugged the cable into the card and swapped our hub with the gigabit switch. We turned on the server and installed the drivers. The manuals were adequate, and the process only took about 20 minutes.

Under Windows, all the products worked well. NetWare support was another matter. We've found about 65% of our readers still use NetWare in their shops, as do a fair number of small offices, most of whom won't budget money to replace an operating system that works. However, D-Link doesn't offer NetWare drivers with the products or on its Web site, so we couldn't test the D-Link card in our IntraNetWare server. When we loaded NetWare drivers for the Compex and Linksys cards, our server became unstable. There were no updates at either company's Web site. E-mails to each company yielded drivers in a day or two. 3Com and SMC worked well with NetWare.

Switch shopping

Because the 3Com and SMC switches were pure gigabit (all gigabit ports), you could connect each machine at gigabit speeds, assuming it has a gigabit NIC card installed. Because SMC sent us four gigabit cards, overall system performance was excellent.

So what to buy? If you're using bandwidth-intensive applications or are trying to connect the servers in a small server farm, consider pure Gigabit switches. If you have two key servers, or a key server and a single greedy or needy user, two gigabit ports should do the trick. If you have one server used by most staff, a switch with a single Gigabit port should provide a healthy performance boost.

In terms of cost, D-Link or Linksys can take care of modest speed enhancements for about $250 to $300, plus installation costs. If you do the installation yourself, cost will equal downtime and staff time. If you hire someone, figure an hour per machine multiplied by your contractor's rate. To update up to four servers, SMC equipment will cost about $1,100. But then again, if you aren't suffering performance problems, consider buying a good printer or new tires for the company delivery truck instead.

All the products tested scored high enough to earn our "World Class" award. But because smaller offices are most driven by cost and ease of use, we gave the nod to the Linksys system. It was less expensive than the D-Link (which came in second) and had comparable features and cost, NetWare drivers that worked - and of course that great fanless design.