Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Switch

The Cisco Catalyst® Express 520 Switch is a component of the Cisco Smart Business Communications System. This integrated system of voice, security, and wireless networking products provides an affordable, comprehensive communications solution that is easy to deploy and use while allowing for business growth. With the Cisco Smart Business Communications System, even smaller organizations can provide employees and customers with secure anywhere, anytime access to the information they need to communicate and interact more effectively. The solution is complemented by award-winning support and flexible financing options delivered through local Cisco partners.

The Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Switch is a fixed-configuration, managed Ethernet switch that provides 8 ports of 10/100 Power over Ethernet (PoE) optimized for integration with the Cisco® Smart Business Communications System. The Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Switch is designed for ease of deployment and ships with a predefined software configuration to work immediately with the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series for Small Business. Available for the Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Switch is the Cisco Configuration Assistant. This centralized management application simplifies configuration and administration tasks for Cisco switches, routers, wireless access points, and voice solutions and is downloadable free of charge at Here

The Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Switch offers the following features:

Table 1 lists the part number and SKU

Table 1. Part Number and SKU

Purpose-Built for Cisco Smart Business Communications System

The Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Switch is designed for ease of deployment and ships with a predefined software configuration to work immediately with Cisco Unified Communication 500 Series for Small Business.

Figure 2. Cisco Unified Communications 500 and the Cisco Catalyst Express 520 series

With nonblocking, wire-speed switching on all ports, the Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Series offers 10/100-Mbps ports for desktop, wireless access point, printer, and IP phone connectivity and one 10/100/1000BASE-T or Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) port for uplink connectivity. With head-of-line blocking prevention, a heavily congested port will not affect performance on other ports on the switch.

The Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Switch is easy to use. The switch is initialized through the GUI Device Manager; no console cable or terminal emulation application is needed. Integrated intelligence optimizes the switch at the system level. Optimal configuration for each port can be applied by choosing from 10 preset Cisco Smartports roles. In addition, all PoE ports can supply up to the IEEE standard maximum of 15.4W simultaneously without the need of an external power supply. There is no need to perform creative power budgeting or worry about exceeding the power limit or adding an external power shelf. All ports support autonegotiation of port speed and duplex. With automatic medium-dependent interface crossover (Auto-MDIX) detection support, you do not have to worry about incorrect cable types.

The Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Switch offers layers of security to protect your business. To secure the device, management traffic to and from the GUI Device Manager can be encrypted with SSL. For network security, you can choose from three business-optimized security levels. With the NAC appliance solution, the Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Series helps protect your network against worms and viruses and raises the overall security protection of your network to the next level.

Troubleshooting is easy with the Cisco Troubleshooting Advisor, which identifies cabling problems such as wiring openings and shorts, common configuration errors, and other potential problems in your network and recommends corrective action. Graphical trend charts and an alert LED help identify problems before they cause network outages.

Cisco Services offer a flexible suite of support services designed to help maintain high-quality network performance while controlling operational costs. The services and support programs described in Table 2 (SMARTnet®) and Table 3 (Cisco SMB Support Assistant) are available as part of the Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Service and Support solution and are available directly from Cisco and through resellers.

Table 2. SMARTnet Service and Support Programs

Table 4 lists specifications for the Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Series Switches.

Table 4. Specifications for Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Series Switches