The World's First 5 Gbps Ethernet Switch on Display at Computex 2025

[TheLostSwede]

Thanks in part to our readers' comments on the back of the new Realtek 10 Gbps Ethernet solutions, we discovered a company that produces what appears to be the only 5 Gbps Ethernet switches in the entire world and it just so happens that they are attending Computex this week. The company goes under the name of Cirinet or Sirivision in China, but after our chat with them at the show, it appears that Apple has taken an issue with the company name, although it might not matter, since the company is largely an ODM/OEM. The company offers two 5 Gbps switches, both are eight port switches and are built around Realtek hardware.

The product on display at Computex is called the SR-S5G3008 and it's an 8-port managed switch, with the unmanaged model being the SRS5G1008. The SR-S5G3008 is a fully managed L3 switch and rather unusually, the company even claims to offers up its firmware for the switch under GPL terms, so at least in theory, it would be possible to download the source code and compile your own version of it. We did also ask about potential retail pricing and the company suggested a price range in the US$150-200 bracket for the unmanaged version. However, with the advent of the new Realtek 10 Gbps PHY, they expect the price difference between a 5 Gbps and a 10 Gbps version, otherwise identical, since the same switching IC would be used, to be less than US$50 in retail. This suggests that 5 Gbps switches might be dead before they've even hit the market, at least if Realtek delivers on their power consumption figures, as both options could be fanless, an advantage these two 5 Gbps switches have over 10 Gbps switches today.



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[Chaitanya]

For a managed switch price is pretty decent.

 

[TheLostSwede]

For a managed switch price is pretty decent.

I don't think I mentioned any price for the managed version?
I honestly didn't get a price for the managed version and it was very hard to get the information I ended up with in the end, as no-one from the company spoke particularly good English and my Mandarin is severely lacking.
Do note that the pricing is their estimate of what the retail pricing might be, but it all depends on markups by whoever will be selling it retail, plus import duties, VAT etc.
I have their contact details if you're interested in starting a business selling network switches though.

My whole reason to go and find this company, was to figure out if 5 Gbps switches where going to be worth it after Realtek showed their new 10 Gbps parts and it seems like the answer is that they're most likely going to be very short lived, unless there's a much more affordable switching IC launching, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

 

[Chaitanya]

I don't think I mentioned any price for the managed version?
I honestly didn't get a price for the managed version and it was very hard to get the information I ended up with in the end, as no-one from the company spoke particularly good English and my Mandarin is severely lacking.
Do note that the pricing is their estimate of what the retail pricing might be, but it all depends on markups by whoever will be selling it retail, plus import duties, VAT etc.
I have their contact details if you're interested in starting a business selling network switches though.

My whole reason to go and find this company, was to figure out if 5 Gbps switches where going to be worth it after Realtek showed their new 10 Gbps parts and it seems like the answer is that they're most likely going to be very short lived, unless there's a much more affordable switching IC launching, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Searching that SKU number(listed in article shows shopping result from some random website in philipines and its listed at around 17300 Philipines pesos which translates to around $310. Which is why I said pricing isnt too bad for a managed 5Gbps switch.

 

[Hakker]

Searching that SKU number(listed in article shows shopping result from some random website in philipines and its listed at around 17300 Philipines pesos which translates to around $310. Which is why I said pricing isnt too bad for a managed 5Gbps switch.
View attachment 400758

I would call it far from good though. Seriously though 2,5gbit is more than enough for home and else you really should ditch RJ45 and go to fiber. That is cheaper, goes faster, requires less power and doesn't run nearly as warm.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I would call it far from good though. Seriously though 2,5gbit is more than enough for home and else you really should ditch RJ45 and go to fiber. That is cheaper, goes faster, requires less power and doesn't run nearly as warm.

It depends on your needs though, no? I've been running 10 Gbps between my NAS and PC for around seven years now and there's no way I'm going back.
Having tested some NAS products, 2.5 Gbps just doesn't do it for me, even though I'm sure it's fine for a lot of people.
I can't get faster internet than 1 Gbps, but that's not why I want faster Ethernet. Being able to use my NAS at the same speed as having spinning rust in my PC is what matters to me, as I get rid of the noise next to me.
My only regret is that I bought a couple of extra AQC107 cards on sale last year for around US$60 each.

Also, do keep in mind that his comment was about a fully managed L3 switch, those are usually not cheap, but also not something most consumers need.

 

[chrcoluk]

Still gigabit here, I cant afford to go full on SSD for flash storage (52 TB of SSD storage makes a 5090 seem like childs play), and with my spindle storage a 2.5gbit lan wont achieve much, plus I am happy with gigabit transfer speeds regardless.

However if I was interested, I am not sure why I would bother with 5 gig switches, we have had 10gig tech for much longer, 2.5g and 5g just seem a way to keep product segregation and milking consumers.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

I would call it far from good though. Seriously though 2,5gbit is more than enough for home and else you really should ditch RJ45 and go to fiber. That is cheaper, goes faster, requires less power and doesn't run nearly as warm.

When I can get basic switches with SFP+ connectors on them, maybe. 99% of home networking equipment doesnt have SFP+ on them, meaning you have to seek out the more expensive equipment in the first place, then you have the issue of cabling. If your house is wired for ethernet, a 2.5 or 5 is a drop in solution, and if you used cat 6, so is 10gbps.

Personally, I cannot find any local supplier of home fiber termination equipment or wall plates like I can ethernet.

Still gigabit here, I cant afford to go full on SSD for flash storage (52 TB of SSD storage makes a 5090 seem like childs play), and with my spindle storage a 2.5gbit lan wont achieve much, plus I am happy with gigabit transfer speeds regardless.

However if I was interested, I am not sure why I would bother with 5 gig switches, we have had 10gig tech for much longer, 2.5g and 5g just seem a way to keep product segregation and milking consumers.

2.5 and 5g work just fine on cat 5 cables. 10g is far pickier on cable quality and, IME, the controllers' drivers are flaky. My 2.5G equipment OTOH was plug and play. That's all before we get to the price of said equipment, have you ever priced out a switch with more than 2 10g ethernet ports? You think a 5090 is expensive.....

 

[binchicken]

Incorrect. Cisco Catalyst 9300 series have had mGig (2.5,5,10) for a few years now.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Still gigabit here, I cant afford to go full on SSD for flash storage (52 TB of SSD storage makes a 5090 seem like childs play), and with my spindle storage a 2.5gbit lan wont achieve much, plus I am happy with gigabit transfer speeds regardless.

However if I was interested, I am not sure why I would bother with 5 gig switches, we have had 10gig tech for much longer, 2.5g and 5g just seem a way to keep product segregation and milking consumers.

I only have spinning rust in my NAS, 10Gbps Ethernet still makes a huge difference when you shuffle around large chunks of data.

It's not about milking consumers though, there are some real technical differences between the standards, such as cable compatibility and thermals that would make people choose one over the other. I have a 2.5 Gbps switch for the network outlets in the flat and only use 10 Gbps between my PC and the NAS, as well as for testing when I review NASes of course.

Incorrect. Cisco Catalyst 9300 series have had mGig (2.5,5,10) for a few years now.

Sorry? This is a comment to what?

 

[Athlonite]

Sorry? This is a comment to what?

I think he's trying to point out that they are not the first with a multi Gigabit switches everyone from Cisco to TP Link has a multi port multi gig switch available
The news posts title states "The World's First 5Gbps Switch" when in all actuality they are not The First they are perhaps quite late to the party

 

[binchicken]

I think he's trying to point out that they are not the first with a multi Gigabit switches everyone from Cisco to TP Link has a multi port multi gig switch available
The news posts title states "The World's First 5Gbps Switch" when in all actuality they are not The First they are perhaps quite late to the party

Yes, this. Thanks

 

[TheLostSwede]

I think he's trying to point out that they are not the first with a multi Gigabit switches everyone from Cisco to TP Link has a multi port multi gig switch available
The news posts title states "The World's First 5Gbps Switch" when in all actuality they are not The First they are perhaps quite late to the party

I think you're all missing the point. This is the world's first 5 Gbps switch, as it doesn't support 10 Gbps Ethernet.
Also, how many people knows what 5GBASE-T or 802.3bz-2016 is? It's technically the world's first switch based on those standards, but most people don't use terms like that to discuss products afaik.
It's by all means not the first switch capable of switching 5 Gbps Ethernet, but I never claimed that either.

 

[binchicken]

I think you're all missing the point. This is the world's first 5 Gbps switch, as it doesn't support 10 Gbps Ethernet.
Also, how many people knows what 5GBASE-T or 802.3bz-2016 is? It's technically the world's first switch based on those standards, but most people don't use terms like that to discuss products afaik.
It's by all means not the first switch capable of switching 5 Gbps Ethernet, but I never claimed that either.

Misleading headline, let's just leave it that

Signed, a fortune 50 network architect

 

[Athlonite]

I think you're all missing the point. This is the world's first 5 Gbps switch, as it doesn't support 10 Gbps Ethernet.
Also, how many people knows what 5GBASE-T or 802.3bz-2016 is? It's technically the world's first switch based on those standards, but most people don't use terms like that to discuss products afaik.
It's by all means not the first switch capable of switching 5 Gbps Ethernet, but I never claimed that either.

So what are you trying to say
1: it tops out at 5Gbps so 100Mbps, 1000Mbps, 2.5Gbps, 5Gbps or
2: it only links at 5Gbps so requires 5Gbps compatible nics to be able to use it

well you kinda did claim it's the first 5Gbps switch by saying so in the title and the 802.3bz-2016 standard is for 2.5/5Gbps

But I stand by my statement they are not the first in the world to put out a 5Gbps Switch they are however late to the party for 5Gbps switches

 

[TheLostSwede]

So what are you trying to say
1: it tops out at 5Gbps so 100Mbps, 1000Mbps, 2.5Gbps, 5Gbps or
2: it only links at 5Gbps so requires 5Gbps compatible nics to be able to use it

1, as it's obviously still backwards compatible.

well you kinda did claim it's the first 5Gbps switch by saying so in the title and the 802.3bz-2016 standard is for 2.5/5Gbps

Well, it is, since there are no other switch out there can do 5 Gbps, but not 10 Gbps.

But I stand by my statement they are not the first in the world to put out a 5Gbps Switch they are however late to the party for 5Gbps switches

Well, they are, see above.
It is a unique product at the moment.