Rating: 5/10
Back in 1995 I bought a sixteen-port switch from 3COM that had a single 100MB uplink port and 15 x 10MB. It cost a staggering £2,500. Today, better technology than that can be had for less than £10, which shows just how long ten years is in the world of computer technology.
I'd accept that it's not exactly styled by Pininfarina, or hand-built by Swiss craftsman, but that's not really the point to my mind. The picture of the SDH108 doesn't represent the scale well, but this entire device is just 12.5cm wide, 7cm deep and 3cm high. It's so small that it's almost dwarfed by the AC power adapter, which is of the annoying power block variety.
Taking up the entire back are eight RJ45 ports, each of which is a capable of 10/100 operation up to the full Duplex 200MB level. They are also all potential downlink lines, being automatically self-configuring for crossed cables.
As this is a switch, opposed to just a hub, it can direct data between computers without broadcasting it across the entire network. This gives the effect that each computer sees the network as if they were the only computer on it, where on a hub the flooding of the network with traffic can reduce performance markedly.
The only information I don't have is what data rate the backbone in the switch can handle, so I'm not sure how many PCs could simultaneously squawk without a little performance loss.
Whatever the backbone capacity really is, for the money this is a perfectly acceptable piece of kit for home networking, and would probably give that old 3COM box a sound thrashing.
If this is too rich for your blood, for a few pounds less they also make a more modest five-port model.
Standards
IEEE 802.3 10BASE-T Ethernet
IEEE 802.3u 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet
Protocol
CSMA/CD
Data Transfer Rate
10MB/s (Half Duplex) or 20MB/s (Full-Duplex) for Ethernet
100MB/s (Half Duplex) or 200MB/s (Full- Duplex) for Fast Ethernet
Numbers of Ports
8 x 10/100MB/s Ports
Diagnostic LEDs
Power Indicator
10/100MB/s Link/Activity
Full-duplex
Dc Inputs
7.5VDC/1A
Dimensions
125mm x 70mm x 31mm
For more information, visit Micromart.co.uk