PowerConnect is a discontinued brand of business-oriented network switches produced by Dell. It consisted of two primary product groups: Classic switches with fabric and firmware based on Broadcom or Marvell; And those based on technology obtained from Force10 Networks after acquisition by Dell in 2011, which were oriented towards data center use. PowerConnect also included a W-series, which was a Wi-Fi platform.
In 2013 Dell re-branded their networking portfolio as Dell Networking, encompassing both the legacy PowerConnect products and the Force10-derived products.
Product line The brand name was first announced in July 2001, as traditional personal computer sales were declining. By September 2002 Cisco Systems cancelled a reseller agreement with Dell. Previously under storage business general manager Darren Thomas, in September 2010 Dario Zamarian was named to head networking platforms within Dell.
PowerConnect switches were available in pre-configured web-managed models as well as more expensive managed models.
there was not a single underlying operating system. The models with a product number up to 5500 ran on a proprietary OS made by Marvell while the Broadcom powered switches ran on an OS based on VxWorks. With the introduction of the 8100 series the switches were to run on DNOS or Dell Networking Operating System which is based on a Linux kernel for DNOS 5.x and 6.x.
Via PowerConnect W-series Dell offered a range of Aruba WiFi products.
The Powerconnect-J (Juniper Networks) and B (Brocade) series are not longer sold, except for the B8000e/PCM8428-K full FCoE switches. Most of these products were replaced by Force10 models.
2200 and 2300 series
Models 2216 and 2224 were unmanaged, 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet over twisted pair switches, with 16 and 24 ports each, respectively. They were discontinued. The PowerConnect 2324 was similar to 2224, but includes 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports for uplink or server purposes.
2600 series The PowerConnect 2600 series included the 2608, 2616 and 2624. They are un-managed Gigabit Ethernet workgroup switches with all ports at 10/100/1000 MBit/s. The 2624 model features an SFP port for fiber uplinks. They too are discontinued.
2700 series
The PowerConnect 27xx series of switchers were web-managed all-Gigabit workgroup switches (10/100/1000) with eight, 16, 24, or 48 ports respectively. Switches shipped in a plug-n-play unmanaged mode and can be managed via a graphical user interface. They are discontinued.
2800 series see Dell Networking - PowerConnect 2800 for details PowerConnect 2808, 2816, 2824, and 2848 are dual-mode unmanaged or web-managed all-Gigabit workgroup switches (10/100/1000). 8, 16, 24, or 48 ports respectively. On the 2824 and 2848, there are an additional 2 Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) transceiver modules, for fiber-optic connectivity. Switches ship in a plug-n-play unmanaged mode and can be managed via a graphical user interface.
3400 series
PowerConnect 3424, 3424P, 3448, and 3448P were fully managed 10/100 switches with gigabit uplinks. All have four Gigabit ports, two copper and two SFP modular, all of which may be used at once. The 3424 and 3424P have 24 10/100 ports, the 3448 and 3448P have 48. The 3424P and 3448P provide power over Ethernet on all 10/100 ports (PowerConnect 3448P requires EPS-470 for full 15.4 W on all ports simultaneously). The switches are stackable using the copper Gigabit ports. They were discontinued.
3500 series see Dell Networking - PowerConnect 3500 for details PowerConnect 3524(P) and 3548(P) are managed 10/100 switches with gigabit uplinks and Power over Ethernet options for [applications such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), denoted on the models denoted with a "P" on the end of the part number. All switches in this family support resilient stacking and have management and security capabilities.
5200 series
The PowerConnect 5200 series of managed switches comprised the 5212 (12 copper Gb ports and 4 SFP ports) and the 5224 (24 copper Gb ports and 4 SFP ports)
5300 series
The PowerConnect 5316M was similar in software and function to other 53xx series switches but physically designed to fit one of the four IO bays in the 1855/1955 blade chassis. 16 ports, 10 of which are allocated to the 10 blade slots in the chassis, 6 are accessible via the back panel of the switch. It was discontinued.
The PowerConnect 5324 was a 24 port, all-Gigabit, fully managed switch. The last 4 ports are SFP capable. Generally very similar to the 3400 series. It was discontinued.
5400 series The PowerConnect 5400 series reached 'end of sales' in 2011 and are followed up with the 5500 series. Many features of the 5400 are now available on the 5500 series, but where the 5400 were certified for use with EqualLogic iSCSI arrays, the 5500 never passed the acceptance tests. The 5400 series offered 4 SFP ports for 1G fiber uplinks to a core or distribution layer and the 24 or 48 RJ45 ports are either normal 1G Ethernet or 1G Ethernet with PoE option. VoIP optimization and auto-configuration iSCSI optimization and auto-configuration IEEE 802.1X (Dot1x) port-authentication IEEE 802.1Q (Dot1q) VLANs, trunking and -tagging.
5500 series see also Dell Networking - PowerConnect 5500 for details on current portfolio. PowerConnect 5500 series switches, the successor of the 5400 series, are based on Marvell technology. They offer 24 or 48 Gigabit Ethernet ports with (-P series) or without PoE. The 5500 have built-in stacking ports, using HDMI cables and the range offers standard two 10 Gb SFP+ ports for uplinks to core or distribution layer. All 5500 series models (5524, 5524P, 5548 and 5548P) can be combined in a single stack with up to 8 units per stack. The 5500 series uses standard HDMI cables (specification 1.4 category 2 or better) to stack with a total bandwidth of 40 Gbit/s per switch.
The 5500 series are often used as top-of-rack (ToR) switches and client access switches in wiring cabinets in offices or campus networks. The 5500P series are mainly client access switches connecting VOIP phones and (daisy chained or directly connected) workstations. The -P series are also used to power other devices than phones, such as WiFi access points, IP cameras or thin clients.
The 5500 series are stackable to combine several 5500-series switches into one virtual switch. The 5500 series switches are mainly designed to be pure layer 2 switches but it has some very basic layer 3 capabilities. Other standard features are enhanced VOIP support where the switch automatically recognizes connected VOIP devices and configure VOIP quality of service and a VOIP-VLAN. This feature will only work optimally in small VOIP networks. There is also iSCSI optimization and auto-configuration, though Dell does not support them with their EqualLogic family of storage arrays. The switch also supports IEEE 802.1X (Dot1x) port authentication.Dell website PC5548 series tech-specs , visited 25 June 2011 Although they were meant as the follow-up for the EqualLogic certified 5400 switches, the 5500's never passed the acceptance tests: problems with latency -especially in stacked setups- prevented certification. Although they can work in small EQL (and other iSCSI) SAN networks they should be seen as campus-access switches and not as SAN switches.
6200 series (Kinnick and Kinnick 2) see also Dell Networking - Managed Multi-layer Gigabit Ethernet switches for details on current portfolio. The PowerConnect 6024 with 24 Gigabit Ethernet over twisted pair ports was announced in early 2004.
The PowerConnect 6024F was a 24 port, layer 3, all-Gigabit, fiber-optimized switch. It had 24 SFP ports, eight of which doubled as copper ports. This switch was capable of routing, with static routes, Routing Information Protocol (RIP), and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF). It was replaced by the PowerConnect 6224/6248 models.
The 6224 and 6248 switch was introduced in early 2007 as the logical follow-up of the 6024 switch. It had 24 (6224) or 48 (6248) Gigabit Ethernet ports and two sockets for 10 Gigabit Ethernet modules (with two ports per module) or stacking.
Many of the Dell PowerConnect offered "combination" ports: the last 4 ports on the switch are either copper (UTP/RJ-45) or fiber (SFP) ports: for example, the PC6224 offers 20 copper-only interfaces while ports 21-24 can be found twice on the front of the switch: as standard UTP ports and also as SFP slots, but one can only use one of them: by default the UTP port is enabled but when one inserts a SFP module in port 21-24 it switches over to fibre mode and the UTP link goes down. Any combo ports are always the highest 4 standard ports (21-24 on the PCxx24 models and 45–48 on PCxx48 models)
Features include 24/48 ports, Layer 3 routing, all-gigabit, fully managed (web+cli), stackable switch with up to 4 10 Gb ports. High availability routing, edge connectivity, traffic aggregation and VOIP applications all supported in the 62xx series. Flexible, high-speed stacking, fiber support and MS NSP Certification included.
The 6224 (P and F) and 6248P series switches are end of development: new firmware versions will only repair bugs, no new features are being developed for these switches. While other PowerConnect switches based on Broadcom hardware have firmware versions 4.x, the 6200 series continue to run on version 3.x and features introduced in the 4.x firmware are not available for the 6200 series switches.(note: this does NOT apply to the PCM 6220 blade-switch)
7000 series see also Dell Networking - Managed multi-layer Gigabit Ethernet switches for details on current portfolio. The PowerConnect 7024 and 7048 were introduced April 1, 2011. They had the same ports as the 6224/6248, QoS features for iSCSI, and incorporate 802.3az Energy-Efficient Ethernet. The 7000-series offer the same type of ports: both the 1G on the front as optional 10G and stacking modules on the rear side. Unlike the 6200 series, firmware for the 7000 series does support new functionality via version 4.x and 5.x like their 10G brothers in the 8024 and 8100 series.
A variant with reversible air flow is available for top of rack data center applications. The 6000 series remained on the market. The PCT7000 series also offer an out-of-band management Ethernet interface. One can configure the switch to allow both in-band as out-of-band management. By default the oob interface allows management per webgui (http) and telnet, but also https and ssh can be enabled on both in-band as out-of-band management. The PCT7000 series can be stacked with other PCT7000's but also with the PCM6348 blade switchCommand line reference guide for the Powerconnec 70xx series, October 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2012
8000 series The PowerConnect 8024 and 8024F were rack-mounted switches offering 10 Gigabit Ethernet on copper or optical fiber using Enhanced Small Form-factor Pluggable transceiver (SFP+) modules on the 8024F. On the 8024 the last 4 ports (21-24) are combo-ports with the option to use the 4 SFP+ slots to use fiber optic connections for longer-distance uplinks to core switches. On the 8024F the 4 combo ports offer 10GBASE-T copper-ports. The PCT8024 series also offers out-of-band management via an extra Ethernet port. This port only gives access to the management of the switch: it doesn't allow to route or switch (other) traffic over this connection. It is possible to configure a switch so that it allows both oob as 'in band' management when one assigns an IP address to a vlan interface one can manage the switch via that address. The oob interface allows http, https, telnet or ssh accessDell manual website: Powerconnect 8024(f) CLI reference, October, 2011. Retrieved: 8 March 2012
The 8024 can be used as pure layer-2 switch or as a layer-3 switch.
These switches were introduced in early 2010, in the same single rack unit (1U) size.
The rack-models reached end-of-sale in January, 2013..