I’m pretty sure your first products in the switch world will be geared towards Enterprise/SOHO use, and not Provider use, but if you do eventually get into Provider gear (tower switches, Data Center switches/routers), here’s a feature I’d like to see:
Your switch probably has a console port. These used to be DB-9 serial; that moved to RJ-45 connected serial (with the common Cisco RJ45-DB-9 cable); then RJ45 to USB that showed up as a COM port on the PC. Then just USB-A to COM port.
What I’d like to see is USB-C for a console port. Take it a step further and add Power Delivery on the USB-C port
Now when I roll up to a tower, or data center, I bring a laptop that charges over USB-C. I don’t haul a power brick for the laptop, and I don’t need to find a spare outlet in the rack I can use.
I don’t have to try 3 times to plug in a USB-A cable. USB-C just plugs in. I don’t have to worry about my laptop running out of charge.
Again, this idea/feature makes more sense in the Provider world vs. Enterprise perhaps.
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Hey @Todd_Vasko wow DB-9 brings me back, haha.
Do any other switches use USB-C for “serial” type communication that you know of? Or you just want it for power?
I could see this being used in an emergency but I don’t expect to be endorsed by corperate world… Boss why again did the switch die… “Todd” well you see I brought my son to work today and his tablet was low so he plugged in the charging cable he had been chewing on and well…
Not that I know of. I tried to talk the Cambium folks and the TPLink/Omada folks into the idea, but I don’t think they feel my passion for this.
I want USB-C, because the cables are already ubiquitous, will become more-so as things move to USB-C ports.
USB-A fails because it takes an average of 3 tries (don’t ask me why) to insert the plug properly. USB-C connects the first time, every time.
Put PD on the port because USB-C supports it in the spec, and lugging around power bricks is unnecessary if your laptop charges over USB-C.
By the same argument, switches shouldn’t have RJ45 ports, because Little Johnny can stuff PBJ into the holes.
But yeah, like I said, a USB-C console port better serves Provider networks, not Enterprise/SOHO.
Any console port facility should probably be modular in the switch design. Plug in whatever add-in board that makes sense … it’s all serial to the CPU.
Just had a recollection. A long time ago, UBNT Brandon asked on the UI community what features people wanted on Unifi switches that were geared more towards the data center. I said ‘USB-C for console’.
Fast forward 5 or 6 years, my USW-24 Pro POE alpha unit has USB-C on the back. At the time, I didn’t think to ask for PD … that wasn’t a focus of the early specs, I think.
Anyway, I do believe UI removed the USB-C console port from the GA switches.