Ubiquiti today is launching another addition to its catalogue of networking gear with the grand entrance of its new UniFi Pro Max 24 PoE. I know, I know there’s normally nothing all too exciting about an Ethernet switch, but you’re going to want to see all of the neat tech that Ubiquiti has baked into its new release, including the debut of a new rack management features that the company calls Etherlighting.
Ubiquiti’s latest managed Ethernet switch is here, and it’s the new UniFi Pro Max 24 PoE. It features a fairly robust set of features that are on-par with what’d you’d expect from a flagship release these days in the networking world, with 2.5Gb Ethernet taking the spotlight. There’s eight of the more recent standard included, which also double as PoE++ ports capable of sending out 60W of power per cable. Ethernet Switch 8 Ports
The whole switch can handle 400W of power draw across all your devices, which also carries over to the remaining 16 gigabit Ethernet slots. Half of those are going to have the same PoE++ rating, while the final eight are just standard PoE+. To the side are a pair of 10G SFP+ ports for connecting to the rest of your setup, as well.
Now for the star of the show – Etherlighting. This new term is a portmanteau of Ethernet and Lighting, and looks to solve the very real issue of knowing what cable plugs into what device. Ethernet switches and the server racks they live in are notoriously busy in a lot of situations, and end up being organized with labels that note what port on a switch leads to what device. Maybe you’re forward thinking enough to have color-coded your setup, but that would be in the minority for most server rack implementations I’ve seen.
That’s why Ubiquiti has Etherlighting, which is rolling out to the new UniFi Pro Max 24 PoE first. The new feature is enabled by the switch having some built-in LEDs for each of the ports that can illuminate specific slots as well as clusters of ports to identify devices. You can show specific devices in the UniFi backend, or even have it show categories like connections in a specific VLAN or network, groups of reconfigured gear like security cameras, and tons of other specifiers.
The new UniFi Pro Max 24 PoE is now available for purchase direct from the Ubiquiti store. It debuts at $799, which is certainly on the pricier side for a networking upgrade these days, but that’s to be expected from the company these days. While it’s lowering the cost of getting into the UniFi network altogether with more affordable offerings, the higher-end devices seem to also be moving towards a more extreme pricing structure – just taking the more expensive route.
Etherlighting is exclusive to the Pro Max switch, although there is also going to be a 48-port PoE version coming in the near future at $1,299. This one has much of the same breakdown of PoE++ ports, just with double the connections and 720W of power output. There’s also going to be some specially-made Ethernet cables that take advantage of the Etherlighting feature thanks to transparent designs.
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