the switch is equipped with unshielded twisted-pair (utp) cable ports providing dedicated 10 or 100 mbps bandwidth. the des-1218 has 16 utp ports, the des-1226 has 24 utp ports. both models include one mdi-x/mdi-ii convertible port (port 1x) that can be used for uplinking to another switch. these ports can be used for connecting pcs, servers, and hubs. the dual speed ports use standard twisted-pair cabling and are ideal for segmenting networks into small, connected subnetworks. each port can support up to 200 mbps of throughput in full-duplex mode.

    in addition, the switch can be fitted with an optional 2 port gigabit ethernet module to uplink to a server or network backbone.

    the modules that can be installed include: the des-122g 2 port 1000base-sx (sc type connector), des-122gl 2 port 1000base-lx, des-122gb 2 port gbic, des-122t 2 port 1000base-t, and des-122gm 2 port 1000base-sx (mt-rj type connector) modules.

    this stand-alone switch enables the network to use some of the most demanding multimedia and imaging applications concurrently with other user applications without creating bottlenecks. the built-in console interface can be used to configure the switch's settings for priority queuing, vlan, and port trunk groups, port monitoring and port speed.