3Com Corp. (www.3com.com) announced the second generation of its Network Jack technology-NJ200. The product is a four-port managed Ethernet switch which, the company says, quadruples LAN infrastructure port connections.

"With the NJ200 network jack, 3Com gives IT managers a way to quickly and easily expand end-user connectivity while increasing control of the network at the same time," says Trey Wafer, product manager for 3Com. "This is the only networking solution on the market today with location-mapping capabilities that enables IT managers to physically pinpoint locations of networking devices on the LAN from the edge of the network."

The jack converts a single-port LAN connection into four switched ports without installing additional cabling. The jack is compatible with the drafted IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet standard, as well as with proprietary Power over Ethernet as implemented in some Cisco devices, using Category 5 or 5e cabling. For LANs that do not incorporate Power over Ethernet, the Network Jack can use a local AC power adapter.

This second-generation product "gives enterprise IT managers key management, VLAN and flexible connectivity support," the manufacturer says. SNMP-compliant management provides port-level control and device monitoring; advanced switching features include port-based VLANs, 802.1p traffic prioritization, and system alerts; the location-mapping feature physically locates any device in the network.

The product is available with a choice of adapter plates for both Avaya (www.avaya.com) and Panduit (www.panduit.com) connectors. Available in cream or black, the NJ200 is available in North America for US$219 list price for a single unit and US$4,075 list price for a package of 20.