When you're running a small business, every hardware dollar counts, and every inch of rack space, too. With the EnGenius Neutron Series 24-Port Gigabit PoE + Wireless Management Switch (EWS7928P) ($1,181.66) you spend a decent chunk of change, but you're getting a single device that can perform two important tasks. The EWS7928P serves as a both controller for the EnGenius Neutron series of access points (APs) and as a Layer 2 managed switch. If you use or plan to deploy EnGenius APs on your network, this device can save you space in a server rack. Unfortunately, as with the EnGenius Neutron Series Dual-Band Wireless N600 Managed Indoor Access Point (EWS310AP) and the EnGenius 802.11ac 3x3 Dual Band Ceiling-Mount Wireless Access Point/WDS (EAP1750H), two APs we've recently tested (and are the sort of APs this unit is meant to control), the EWS7928P's feature set and interface are fairly no-frills. And it's far from the fastest switch we've tested. Though it does both of its jobs adequately, these drawbacks make what sounds like a good two-for-one deal considerably less attractive.

Specs and Setup
As its name implies, the EWS7928P has 24 Gigabit Ethernet ports, and it also has four SFP ports for adding connectivity options (if you wanted to add a Fibre Channel backbone, for example). It also supports Power over Ethernet (PoE). Its components include 256MB of SDRAM and 32MB of flash memory, and its switching capacity is 56Gbps. The switch ships with rack brackets, rubber feet, and an RJ45 console cable for diagnostic use. As a controller, the EWS7928P can manage up to 50 APs. It's a pretty large piece of hardware, measuring 1.73 by 17.32 by 10.24 (HWD) and weighing 7.82 pounds. Still, it's no larger than most 1U rack-mount servers. And this is a device you'll want in a server room, not sitting on a desktop, because it's fairly noisy, though not too far out of line with similar devices.