Cisco SG 100D-08 Ethernet Switch - 8 Port 8 - 10/100/1000Base-T

Comment:
I purchased this first and foremost for it's Cisco's reputation which is supposed to be second to none in terms of business networking.This specific gigabit switch is geared towards small business/home business that basically need Cisco warranty and reliability when building your network.The photos on NCIX site shows the old model SD2008 which had three revisions and was plagued with reliability and performance problems. They basically revamped their lineup and this is part of their 100-series, which is the basic stepping point. Internally it's confusingly called SD2008T model, but branding-wise is also known as SG100D-08. I don't know why they maintained the internal naming of SD2008T. Maybe the internals are comparable to the old SD2008, but with much improved design. So maybe this is the 4th iteration.In any case, the exterior has been redesigned. In photos it looks great and professional. However in person it's surprisingly very much light and all plastic chassis. I would have expected Cisco to build a metal chassis for their branding and leaving Linksys to the plastic chassis. The lightness can pose a problem when placing on a desktop as it can easily move with the stiff CAT6 cables connected to it. It can be wall mounted and the screws are supplied which will not make movement a problem.It has energy efficiency offered by other current switches these days such that unused ports are turned off automatically.A bonus is that with this new design it can be stacked with similar 100 series Cisco models including more switches and wired and wireless routers.If it has to be plastic, I have to admit I like the old design. It looks more professional (as pictured). The new one feels like a dated device.Which is why I gave 3 stars for the price and confusing model number. If this was a metal chassis, it could justify the cost.