ZyXEL Launches Affordable 10G Switches, Brings UTM Devices to Home Users

ZyXEL has a track record of making affordable networking equipment for both home users and service providers. Post-CES, the company has made a couple of product line announcements that warrant perusal from those keeping track ofdevelopments in the wired networking space.

Affordable 10G Switches

The first product line targets enterprise users thinking about shifting to 10G. With platform advancements bringing down the price and power consumption for 10GBASE-T switches, we have seen a host of affordable switches enter the market from various manufacturers. Netgear took the lead a couple of years back with a number of ProSafe 10GBASE-T switches starting at $1400 for the 8-port model. A couple of years down the road, the prices have come down considerably (slightly more than $800 for the 8-port model).

ZyXEL is now entering the affordable 10GBASE-T market with two switches, the Web Smart XS1920-12 and the L2 Managed XS3700-24. The two models are compared in the table below

ZyXEL XS1920-12 vs. XS3700-24 Comparison
Aspect	XS1920-12	XS3700-24
Switch Class	Smart Managed	Layer 2 Plus (Layer 3 Lite)
Port Distribution	10x 10GBASE-T 2x 10G (SFP/RJ-45)	8x 10GBASE-T 12x 10G SFP+ 4x10G (SFP/RJ-45)
MSRP (USD)	$1865	$3860
Switching Capacity (Gbps)	240	480
Forwarding Capacity (Mpps)	178.6	357.14
Packet Buffer (Byte)	2M	4M
MAC Address Table	16K	16K
IP Address Table	-	512
Routing Entries	-	64
Routing Domains	-	128
Management	IPv6 Management Web GUI	IPv6 Management CLI Web GUI Out-of-bound Management Port
Static IP Routing	-	Yes
VRRP	-	Yes
Spanning Tree (STP/MSTP/RSTP)	Yes	Yes
QoS Features	802.1p QoS 8 priority queues Data prioritization (SPQ/WRR/WFQ) v1 IGMP snooping MVR 12K jumbo frames	802.1p QoS 8 priority queues Data prioritization (SPQ/WRR/WFQ) v1, v2, v3 IGMP snooping MVR 12K jumbo frames
Security Features	MAC freeze 802.1X authentication TACACS+/RADIUS L2/L3/L4 ACL security filter	MAC freeze and intrusion lock 802.1X authentication TACACS+/RADIUS L2/L3/L4 ACL security filter sFlow
Power Supply and Features	100 - 240V AC, 50 / 60 Hz Max. Power Consumption - 95.6 W	100 - 240V AC, 50 / 60 Hz Redundant Removable Power Supply Modules Max. Power Consumption - 143.1 W (Single PSU), 161 W (Dual PSU)
Physical Aspects	17.32 x 12.99 x 1.75 in. 9.27 lbs 326 BTU/hr Heat Dissipation	17.32 x 17.24 x 1.73 in. 16.3 lbs 488 (single PSU) / 549 (dual PSU) BTU/hr Heat Dissipation Removable fan module

ZyXEL is also touting their ZON management platform which enables IT administrators to have a unified view and streamlined control of various devices in the network. The new 10G switches are obviously compatible with the ZON platform.

UTM for Home Consumers

Towards the middle of last year, ZyXEL updated their UTM (Unified Threat Management) solutions for SMBs. In what we believe is a first from any home networking equipment vendor, ZyXEL is marketing the 4-port solution in the home consumer market too. Security is becoming an important aspect of home networks (with the rise in popularity of home automation devices and other online activities making home consumers vulnerable to cyberattacks) and ZyXEL is hoping to latch on to this opportunity with the USG40HE.

The USG40HE has a WAN port and 3 LAN/DMZ ports. There is an additional port that can be configured as a secondary WAN or another LAN port. Claimed firewall and VPN throughputs are 400 Mbps and 100 Mbps respectively.

This UTM device / home network security product provides firewall capabilities, content filtering, traffic prioritization depending on application recognition, intrusion detection and prevention and optional anti-virus / anti-spam capabilities. Similar to the tradition in the SMB market, ZyXEL is bundling a 1-yr license for the UTM services. Street price seems to be around $250, while the business edition is closer to $300. The latter comes with anti-virus and anti-spam licenses for 1 year, while the home edition makes them optional.

As home networks become more and more powerful, we believe the trend in the market (at least for power users) will be to move from an advanced Wi-Fi router to a gateway / wired router + Wi-Fi access point. The USG40-HE does fit into that scenario. That said, the 1-yr licensing for UTM capabilities works well in
business use-cases, but it might create a negative mindset for home consumers who are not used to such business models. It will be interesting to see how this product fares in the market.