In the world of packet switched and computer networking, the traffic engineering term ‘Quality of Service’ refers to the control mechanism that can provide a different priority to different users, or data flows, or guarantee a certain level of performance to a specific program or application. Quality guarantees are important if the network capacity is limited, and especially in a situation where packet delays are extremely sensitive. That is certainly the case with voice and data where a delayed or lost packet will result in a poorer quality voice.
A QoS Multilayer switch (MLS) can prioritize packets by the 6 bits in IP DSCP (Differentiated Services Code Point). Alternatively, what this really means is that a QoS enabled switch will allow for voice / video packets to get priority over other packets (web surfing for example).
In addition, you can get a QoS PoE switch instead of getting two separate devices (PoE patch panel and QoS switch). You can now get one device to do both (PoE QoS enabled switch).
If you are looking to run VoIP on your network make sure QoS is included in your LAN & WAN planning.
Jeff Wiener
jw@digitcom.ca
(416) 783-7890
