Cisco Catalyst Express 500-24LC Switch

Cisco Catalyst Express 500-24LC Switch:

• 20 10/100 ports for desktop connectivity
• 4 10/100 PoE ports for desktop, wireless access point, IP telephony, or closed-circuit TV camera connectivity
• 2 10/100/1000BASE-T or Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) ports for flexible uplink or server connectivity

Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series Switches

The Cisco Catalyst^® Express 500 Series Switches are a new family of fixed-configuration managed Ethernet standalone devices that provide wire-speed Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, enabling enhanced LAN services for businesses with up to 250 employees. The Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series offers integrated security, quality of service (QoS), and features optimized for integration with Cisco wireless LAN (WLAN), security, and IP telephony solutions.

The Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series offers:

• Power over Ethernet (PoE): 4-port and 24-port PoE configurations provide full 15.4W simultaneously on all ports for seamless integration with Cisco IP Communications and Cisco WLAN solutions.
   
• Advanced network security:
  • Support for IEEE 802.1x, port security, and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
  • Integration with Cisco Network Admission Control (NAC) using the NAC appliance
     
• Optimized QoS using Cisco Smartports: Cisco Smartports roles match the appropriate class-of-service (CoS) and differentiated services code point (DSCP) values to the specific Cisco device connected to the Cisco Catalyst Express switch. This allows for trouble-free deployment of Cisco advanced technologies such as IP telephony and WLAN.
   
• Central management of Cisco foundation, IP telephony and WLAN solutions: In conjunction with the GUI-based Cisco Network Assistant, the Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series allows centralized management of a Cisco small and medium-sized business (SMB) network, including Cisco Catalyst switches, integrated services routers (ISRs) and Cisco IP phones, using a single IP address. Management can be done locally or remotely, using a secure SSL connection. Cisco Network Assistant is available at no cost and is now available in localized languages (Japanese, Chinese, French, Italian, German, and Spanish).
   
• Limited lifetime warranty: Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series Switches are backed for the life of the product by the Cisco Limited Lifetime Hardware Warranty.

Use the power Cisco intelligent switching to improve business productivity and increase customer satisfaction.

Successful companies focus on strategies that enable them to anticipate changing business realities. The need to be more agile than competitors, more responsive to customers, and more efficient in operations is never more critical than for small and medium-sized businesses. Under constant pressure to increase revenue and yet do more with less, these businesses know that the right technology is vital to their success.

Could the network be doing more? Be smarter? More secure? And yet be simple to deploy? Cisco Systems^® says yes. By laying the right network foundation, businesses can build a sustainable competitive advantage despite limited resources, be more productive, and create a network that enables them to offer the availability and services that increase customer satisfaction.

Introducing Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series Switches: Smart, Simple, Secure

Cisco has designed Cisco Catalyst^® Express 500 Series switches to address the unique needs of companies of 250 or fewer employees while solving important challenges that these businesses face:

• Competitive pressure
• Investment protection
• Lack of resources
• Operational efficiency
• Securing business assets

The Catalyst Express 500 Series was built from the start with the highest levels of proven reliability to help ensure that the network is highly available to address customer needs. Businesses no longer need to worry that competition will be able to better serve customers due to the reliability of the network or offer better services because the infrastructure cannot handle advanced innovative services or apply the right level of quality of service (QoS). With the embedded innovation, QoS, and security in the Catalyst Express 500 Series, investment protection is guaranteed as businesses roll out advanced services such as IP Communications or deploy WLANs.

Created to be smart, simple, and secure, the Catalyst Express 500 Series has many unique features to simplify network installation, deployment, operation, and troubleshooting. The simple setup and configuration mitigate the need for expensive resources with advanced training and certifications, which might not be available in companies with fewer than 250 employees. Additionally, the intelligence embedded in Cisco switching platforms enables the network to recognize the types of devices attached to it and apply best-practice configurations for optimal operational efficiency and security.

Tailor Designed Solution

The Catalyst Express 500 Series is a new generation of Cisco hardware and software designed to meet the needs of companies of 250 or fewer employees. Based on the advanced and reliable Cisco IOS operating system, the Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series is managed via a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Multiple models are offered for different network requirements. Additionally, this family of product is attractively priced and comes with limited lifetime warranty and support offering SMB Support Assistant (SMB SA).

The Catalyst Express 500 Series' smart, simple, secure networking makes running a complete business network easier than ever. The network can grow along with your business, and QoS helps ensure that real-time applications have the right quality and integrity.

To simplify management, configuration, and troubleshooting, the Cisco Network Assistant, a GUI management interface, comes with the Catalyst Express 500 Series at no extra cost. It contains built-in Cisco Smartports (preset Cisco-recommended network configurations), QoS, and security settings for simple integration of data, IP Communications, and WLAN applications. Additionally, Cisco Network Assistant has integrated intelligence to detect device and network problems before they affect your business.

The Cisco Network Assistant provides a single platform from which to manage the Catalyst Express 500 Series and also to launch the device management software of any Cisco Integrated Services Routers or Cisco Aironet wireless Access Points. Software upgrades on the Catalyst Express 500 Series, Catalyst 29xx Series, Catalyst 3xxx Series, Cisco Integrated Service Routers, and Cisco Aironet wireless Access Points are as easy as drag-and-drop. This results in simplified training and reduced operational costs because the network manager has to run only one interface.

The Catalyst Express 500 Series further eases configuration with Smartports Advisor, which automatically identifies other Cisco devices and recommends the configuration for the switch ports, using Cisco CCIE^® expertise and best practices, without the associated complexity. This helps lower the cost of implementation while deploying best practices in the network.

The Catalyst Express 500 Series also prepares your network for the future. For technologies such as IP Communications, the Catalyst Express 500 Series provides the core foundation to both protect and optimize the voice network. It utilizes QoS to help ensure that voice quality is guaranteed. Each Power-over-Ethernet port can not only provide Ethernet connectivity to an IP phone and PC, but also supply power to the IP phone, saving the business from having to install extra power or from having a power supply for each phone.

Securing business assets is an ongoing challenge for many businesses. The Catalyst Express 500 Series integrates security to better protect the network. Customers can choose from three business-optimized security levels. At the highest level, only authorized devices and authenticated users are allowed onto the network. With Cisco Clean Access solution and Catalyst Express 500 Series switches, virus-infected or vulnerable PCs that do not adhere to your company's security policies are shut out of the network and quarantined. These features in intelligent Catalyst switching and Cisco Clean Access solution help ensure that devices, the network, and management are protected, providing peace of mind to the network manager. Integrated security reduces the risk of downtime and potential cost associated with an attack, theft of information, or liability.

Benefits:
 

Business Benefits:

Building on 20 years of innovation, Cisco brings you a new network foundation of intelligent switches in the Catalyst Express 500 Series with embedded intelligence to help your business:

• Respond to customer needs and competitive pressure more quickly with lower costs and a highly available network
• Improve operational efficiency through deploying a smart, simple, and secure switch that offers wire-speed performance to help ensure that network clients and servers are operating at maximum efficiency
• Rapidly deploy wireless and IP Communications solutions and reduce operational costs by detecting new devices and auto-suggest configurations
• Easily secure assets through some of the industry's best Layer 2 networking security and eliminate expensive, time-consuming security configurations through preinstalled best-practice rules
• Manage, monitor, and configure the infrastructure without a complex command-line interface (CLI)
• Future-proof your investment with built-in Power over Ethernet (802.3af) for new applications

The Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series is the right choice to address current network challenges and provides confidence that the Cisco network platform will address business challenges and opportunities of the future.

Primary Benefits:

Performance
With nonblocking, wire-speed switching on all ports, the Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series offers 10/100 Mbps ports for desktop, wireless access point, printer, and IP phone connectivity and 10/100/1000BASE-T or SFP ports for server or backbone connectivity. With head-of-line blocking prevention, a heavily congested port will not affect performance on other ports on the switch.

Ease of Use
The Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series switches are designed for ease of use. The switch is initialized through the GUI Device Manager; no console cable or terminal emulation application is needed. Integrated intelligence optimizes the switch at the system level. Optimal configuration for each port can be applied by choosing from 10 preset Cisco Smartports roles. And all PoE ports can supply up to the IEEE standard maximum of 15.4W simultaneously without the need of an external power supply. There is no need to do creative power budgeting or worry about exceeding the power limit or adding an external power shelf. All ports support autonegotiation of port speed and duplex. With automatic medium-dependent interface crossover (Auto-MDIX) detection support, you do not have to worry about incorrect cable types.

Intelligencee
Deploying and running an end-to-end Cisco network for up to 250 employees has never been easier. With Cisco Smartports Advisor (Figure 3), the Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series Switches automatically discover connected Cisco devices and suggest appropriate Smartports roles. With the Smartports phone and desktop role, voice quality is guaranteed. Telephone conversations are not affected by employees sending or downloading large files. The switches also can autodetect misconfigurations and suggest corrections.

Smartports View

Smartports roles offer a set of verified feature templates per connection type that are easy to apply. With these templates, users can consistently and reliably configure essential security, availability, and QoS features with minimal effort and expertise. Smartports roles simplify the configuration of critical features.

Secure
The Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series Switches offer you layers of security to protect your business. To secure the device, management traffic to and from the GUI Device Manager can be encrypted with SSL and Simple Network Management Protocol Version 3 (SNMPv3). For network security, you can choose from three business-optimized security levels. Tight integration with Cisco Aironet^® wireless access points allows you to quickly and easily deploy a secure WLAN network. With the NAC Appliance solution, the Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series helps protect your network against worms and viruses and raises the overall security protection of your network to the next level.

Easy Monitoring and Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting is easy with the Cisco Troubleshooting Advisor, which identifies cabling problems such as wiring opens and shorts, common configuration errors, and other potential problems in your network and recommends corrective action. Graphical trend charts and an alert LED help you identify problems before they cause network outages.

Architecture:

There are four models in the Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series Switch family. The three Fast Ethernet switches are ideal for desktop, IP telephony, and wireless Access Point connectivity. The 12 port Gigabit Ethernet switch is ideal for switch aggregation and server connectivity.

Typical Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series Switch Deployment Scenarios

 

Technical Specifications:

 

Models Comparison:

Learn about the similarities and differences of the models in this product series.

 

Documentation:

Download the Cisco Catalyst Express 500 Series Switches Datasheet (PDF).