BARCELONA, Spain -- SMC Networks (www.smc.com) today announced the replacement for its successful SMCGS24-Smart in the form of the new SMCGS24C-SMART which includes several new features and optional fibre connectivity – but as the same competitive price point as the current model.

“Our focus is on providing investment protection for our customers and we are seeing a marked increase in fibre to the workgroup area” said Iain Kenney, Worldwide Product Manager for Switching Products at SMC, “To meet this growing need, we have revamped our popular 24 port Smart Switch to include optional fibre Connectivity as well as several much sort after features including Cable Diagnostics and IGMP Snooping.”

SMC Networks' EZSwitch 10/100/1000 (SMCGS24C-Smart) is a new 24 port gigabit smart switch with 4 combo ports that bring the speed of gigabit copper to the desktop with the added flexibility of fibre. The SMCGS24C-Smart provides a flexible web based management interface to enable the configuration of switch features, port settings including security, QoS with 4 priority queues, link aggregation and VLAN's. These features allow traditionally unmanaged networks to increase throughput and flexibility.

The launch of the new SMCGS24C-Smart follows last months announcement of SMC TigerSwitch 1000, a 24-port 10/100/1000 Standalone Managed Switch (SMC8024L2) targeted at customers looking for a workgroup or small office managed switch with a number of key features typically found in enterprise class products but at a highly aggressive price point approximately 30% less expensive than comparable competitors.

Kenney concludes, “The 24 port market is a sweet spot at the moment and customers are demanding more features to help improve network performance. Customers are increasingly requiring technologies such as VoIP and VLAN while maintaining optimum security with enhancements such as Static Port Security and IGMP Snooping. The new SMCGS24C-Smart delivers in all these key areas while maintaining an aggressive pricing structure.”

SMC Networks Inc.