Pity the humble access switch. These packet pushers usually work so well they're stuffed into wiring closets and promptly forgotten. Packet in, packet out. End of story.

Or is it? If the results of Network World's latest switch tests are any guide, network managers may need a whole new lexicon just to make buying decisions. Our tests found seven next-generation switches bristle with features that don't exist in many previous models – not just physical features like 10Gigabit Ethernet uplinks but also 802.1X-based network access control authentication, enhanced multicast support, storm control, denial-of-service protection and IPv6 support.

We assessed switches – all of which sported 48 10/100/1000Mbps ports and two 10G ports -- in 10 areas, encompassing L2 and L3 IPv4 unicast and multicast performance, L2 multicast group capacity, 802.1X/NAC support, storm control, management and usability, power consumption, and features.

Overall, we found big differences in support and stability in products tested from Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Dell, D-Link, Extreme, Foundry and HP. For example:

• Multicast throughput and latency varied widely, but more basic issues like group capacity and even system stability were bigger differentiators in our tests. It took multiple software builds from some vendors just to get through industry-standard multicast tests, and then only using very different group counts.

• While all switches supported 802.1X authentication, there were major variations in the level of granularity of access control. Not every switch supported some common use cases, and two switches forwarded unauthenticated traffic when operating in so-called multi-auth mode, posing security issues.

• All devices had "storm control" features to help mitigate DoS attacks, but these varied widely in terms of rate control and signature detection.

• IPv6 support remains a work in progress. Some switches fully support IPv6; others can route IPv6 packets but can't be managed over IPv6; yet others lack support for IPv6 routing protocols.

No one switch excelled in all of the many areas we examined, making it difficult to pick winners across the board. Most switches do fine on simple forwarding of Ethernet and IPv4 unicast traffic. If that's all that matters to you, pick a switch on price and usability.

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