Nortel - Passport 1648T. What is it?

[panacuba]

Well hi again my good tomers

well i just got this NORTEL - PASSPORT 1648T and i dont know really what it does, i know is a reouter but i dont get the "passport" in hes name.

Well my main question is what is this used for and give me some specification and sale prices.

Again thnx in advance for all help

 

[sturm]

Actually its a layer 3 switch that does routing. Passport is just a name.

 

[panacuba]

Actually its a layer 3 switch that does routing. Passport is just a name.

what does the layer 3 means, i know what a switch is used for but i never heard the "layer 3"

 

[sturm]

Normal Layer 2 only switches can only send and receive packets to ports that are on the same VLan/network. If you have 2 computers that are on 2 different networks: IE 192.168.2.xxx and 192.168.10.xxx the switch would have to send those packets destined for the other network to a router which would then resend those packets back to the switch on the correct network.
A layer 3 switch is able to do this on its own without the need of a separate router. This increases speed, especially if the router is several hops away. The packets don't have to travel as far on a layer 3 compared to a layer 2 when crossing over to another vlan/network.

Think of it as riding one bus and needing to transfer to another bus on a different route. Instead of having to ride the one bus all the way downtown (router) to get on the other bus you can change buses at the local bus stop (Layer 3 switch).