4-8 port fiber switch -- does this type of switch exist?!

[Epsil0n00]

I've been looking for a small fiber switch that has in between 4-8 ports (empty bays to populate with SFP/Mini-GBIC modules). I found a HP ProCurve model that has 16 ports... and some normal ethernet switches that have 4 bays built in... but I have not been able to find a switch that is just meant for fiber networking, in lower port densities than 16 ports (which is too expensive and overkill for my needs).

Has anyone seen "small" fiber switches? Do they exist!?

Thanks!
Epsil0n

 

[spidey07]

yes they exist. Look to alcatel.

You needing 100 Base-Fx, or 1000 Base SX/LX?

There are a ton of ways to transport data over fiber so more on what you're trying to do would help. I'm guessing 100/1000 base is what you're looking for.

 

[her209]

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/pro...models_comparison.html

3750G-12S-SD 12 SFP ports 17.8 Mpps ? 72W, 245 Btus/hour
3750G-12S 12 SFP ports 17.8 mpps ? 100W, 340 Btus per hr

 

[Epsil0n00]

Originally posted by: spidey07
yes they exist. Look to alcatel.

You needing 100 Base-Fx, or 1000 Base SX/LX?

There are a ton of ways to transport data over fiber so more on what you're trying to do would help. I'm guessing 100/1000 base is what you're looking for.

Needs to be 1000 base SX, but inexpensive. We have a hub-spoke network with a core switch. The core switch has 4 fiber runs coming out of it that go to four different buildings. The fiber coming into each building terminates in a single switch that has 24-48 ethernet ports to serve the devices in that building. The goal here is to expand within one building/area by running more fiber inside that area without home-running back to the core switch. Thus, we want to put a 4-port fiber switch at the end of one of the existing runs, and then run 2-3 more fiber connections out of that switch.

I saw the HP Procurve 2510G-48. This is a combo switch that has 44 10/100/1000 Copper ethernet ports, and 4 SFP/MiniGBIC ports. The cost of this switch is roughly $2570 ($1250 for the switch with empty SFP bays, $1320 for the 4 mini GBIC fiber modules). This switch would work well... but if we can find a purely fiber switch without the copper ethernet ports for less money that would be preferable.

So, to recap:
-- It has to be less than $2500
-- It has to be open ports to populate with miniGBIC fiber modules, OR work with 1000 Mb SX connections.
-- It needs to have at least 4 fiber ports/bays

Thanks!
Epsil0n

 

[Epsil0n00]

Originally posted by: her209
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/pro...models_comparison.html

3750G-12S-SD 12 SFP ports 17.8 Mpps ? 72W, 245 Btus/hour
3750G-12S 12 SFP ports 17.8 mpps ? 100W, 340 Btus per hr

This is a nice switch that would do the job... but this unit has 12 SFP ports when I only need 4! Having 12 ports raises the cost on this model to $5600--and that's without any MiniGBIC modules included!

 

[spidey07]

Given your budget, good luck finding it. This is a design/product problem that a distribution layer solves.

 

[Epsil0n00]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Given your budget, good luck finding it. This is a design/product problem that a distribution layer solves.

I looked at the Alcatel products and did find an 8-port SFP switch (OS6855-U10) for $2350 (not including any SFP modules). This is about the cheapest pure fiber switch that I have seen.

Spidey: I think you're right... there's a design issue happening here. Because this is a small environment we're mixing our application and distribution layers. Our distribution layer devices are also functioning as end-point ethernet connectivity switches. The problem we're running into here is that we're trying to create sometype of blended extension of the core with a distribution layer, and trying to do it really cheaply at that.

I was hoping that there would be some inexpensive $500-$1000 4-port fiber switch that would alleviate the issue.

Any other suggestions out there?
I'm open to ideas...
Thanks!

 

[spidey07]

The only other advice I can give is if you have design problems you're trying to force a square peg into a round hole. I know what you're dealing with - capital costs and trying to piece meal a solution. You're being asked "well why can't we just do this?" by people that have no idea about network communications and think a wire is just a wire.

Good luck, I don't envy you. I wish I could offer a solution but if I did it would go against all good design principles. These principles and best practices are not just made up, we learned it through failures.

 

[drebo]

You could always use media converters. I know it's not optimal, but in your budget, it's probably going to be the only thing you'll find. I saw these guys at Interop this year: http://www.omnitron-systems.com/ . They seemed to have some interesting gear that might be useful to you.

 

[azev]

just like drebo said, I think you could get away with using 4 media converter instead of a switch.

 

[Epsil0n00]

Thanks all for the feedback. I will be recommending the proper solution instead of a 'square peg in round hole' solution.

 

[Cooky]

Do you work for customer-facing consulting firm, or an internal IT department?

If the latter, just present the best practice solution w/ inflated quotes.
When the bean counter trims down the budget, you'll get about the amount you need for a somewhat decent solution.
That worked out well for us this fiscal year...

If you're a consultant, obviously you'll lose the bid so it won't work.

 

[Gillbot]

I have never seen the terms fiber and inexpensive used in the same sentence.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
I have never seen the terms fiber and inexpensive used in the same sentence.

I'll do it. Fiber optic cable is rather inexpensive. Very cheap actually.

 

[cmetz]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16833129135

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Gillbot
I have never seen the terms fiber and inexpensive used in the same sentence.

I'll do it. Fiber optic cable is rather inexpensive. Very cheap actually.

I ran my old house with all fiber, but I got all of it used or from friends after company upgrades.

 

[Emulex]

2510g-48 is underpowered (i have one). also no RPS is a bad call.

don't cheap out on generic gbic; i've seen too many of those burn out.

 

[redbeard1]

Here is an 8 port switch, with 4 ports being fiber.

Transition Networks