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In other words, bigger network, better brend you'll need.<br />
For 5-10 PC, any &quot;homy&quot; stuff will work, anything more than 10 PC, you shuold start consider &quot;commercial grade&quot; base on actual topology structure.
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In other words, bigger network, better brend you'll need.
For 5-10 PC, any "homy" stuff will work, anything more than 10 PC, you shuold start consider "commercial grade" base on actual topology structure.

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Is there any major difference in terms of robustness, processing capability, etc, between a residential swtich like you can get off the shelf at Staples or Walmart, and a commercial grade 10/100 switch? <br />
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Is there any major difference in terms of robustness, processing capability, etc, between a residential swtich like you can get off the shelf at Staples or Walmart, and a commercial grade 10/100 switch? 



What's the major difference between a residential style NETGEAR or LINKSYS 10/100 switch and any commercial grade 10/100 switch?

Networking hardware includes the physical devices facilitating the use of a computer network. Typically, networking hardware includes gateways, routers, network bridges, modems, wireless access points, networking cables, line drivers, switches, hubs, and repeaters. But it also includes hybrid network devices such as multilayer switches, protocol converters, bridge routers, proxy servers, firewalls, network address translators, multiplexers, network interface controllers, wireless network interface controllers, ISDN terminal adapters and other related hardware.

Networking Hardware-Other

A switch is a device that filters and forwards packets of data between LAN segments. Switches operate at the data link layer or the network layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model and therefore support any packet protocol. LANs that use switches to join segments are called switched LANs or, in the case of Ethernet networks, switched Ethernet LANs. A hub is a connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports; when a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of the LAN can see all packets.

Switches / Hubs

Network Management involves issues that are independent of specific hardware or software, including email policies, upgrade planning, backup scheduling and working with managed service providers for Desktop-As-A-Service (DaaS), Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) and the like through the use of tools, coupled with manufacturer standards, best practice guidelines, policies and procedures plus all other relevant documentation. Network management also includes monitoring, alerting and reporting, management reporting, planning for device or service updates, the backup of configurations, the setting of key performance indicators and measures (KPIs/KPMs), associated service level agreements and problem records as part of the IT Service Management (ITSM) framework.