Switches
The Ethernet switches between the cameras and the recorder — unmanaged boxes, smart units with a login page, managed equipment configured by IT. Port count is the figure on the carton and the one that decides least.
How to choose
- PoE or data-only. Decide whether the switch powers the cameras or only carries their traffic. If it powers them, what matters is the total it can deliver across all ports at once, not the port count — a full switch runs out of power before it runs out of sockets.
- Unmanaged, smart or managed. A question about the site, not the hardware. A login page shows which ports are live and lets you restart one camera without dropping the rest — but only if somebody records the address and password in the handover pack.
- Ports, with the uplink counted out. The link back to the recorder or the next switch takes a port. Count cameras, add the uplink, leave a spare — then weigh one central switch against two nearer the cameras on cable metres, not ports.
- Where the box will live. Heat kills this class faster than load does — a sealed cabinet through an Egyptian summer is harder on a switch than a full port count. Check depth, free rack space and airflow first.
Genuine Hikvision stock, official one-year manufacturer warranty, delivery to all Egyptian governorates. Send us the camera list and the cabinet position and our technical team will pick the model — hotline 16454.
What this looks like at scale
A multi-site network is the harder version of the same decision. Americana Group runs over 450 branches across Egypt, each with surveillance and access control, all linked back to a single centralised management hub that we supplied, installed and support. See the projects we have delivered.
