As electronic security, life safety and access control continue to become melded into clients’ IT networks, the functions and properties of a particular client’s network devices need to be scrutinized by systems integration engineers and installers.

The basics of networking are now well known to most industry professionals. The network switch is the central “heart” of a network, connecting many devices (PCs, printers, etc.) to each other and potentially to the internet via cabled Cat5e/6 or Wi-Fi connections through connected Wi-Fi access points. And the switch may well be connected to a router/internet interface providing access to all the good and bad that’s available from the internet.