SMC heeft met de Barricade een router en switch combinatie op de markt gebracht, welke het Plug&Play principe behoorlijk letterlijk schijnt te nemen. Kabelmodem erin, UTP erin, configureren en klaar: alle workstations op het internet. HardwareCentral besloot het apparaat eens onder de loep te nemen, en wel om de volgende reden:
There are quite a few possible ways to split the connection. First and foremost, the sharing can be performed by one computer which is designated as the “proxy” server. This computer has two network cards, one for the incoming broadband connection and one going to your internal network.
[...] While this method works well, it is very expensive because the router and switch/hub need to be purchased separately.
Seeing this problem as a potential market, companies such as Netgear (owned by Nortel), Linksys and SMC decided to integrate a broadband router and switch into a single product aimed at the home and small business user. In addition to providing broadband sharing, the router/switch combos also provide firewall security, IP routing, among other useful features. SMC has long been in the business of producing networking products; so, how does the SMC Barricade differentiate itself from its competition?
Of het apparaat daadwerkelijk goed zijn werk doet kan je hier lezen.