Hikvision DS-3E0518P-E 16-Port Gigabit PoE Unmanaged Network Switch

A 16-port PoE switch like the DS-3E0518P-E lets you power and network up to 16 IP cameras (or access points) over ordinary Ethernet cable, so you don't need separate power leads run to each camera.

What it does in practice

Each of the 16 Gigabit ports supplies both data and power (PoE — Power over Ethernet), using the IEEE 802.3af/802.3at standards, with up to 30 W available per port. The shared PoE budget is around 230 W, so worth checking before assuming all 16 ports can draw maximum power simultaneously — add up your camera wattages against that figure.

For getting footage back to a recorder or server, there's a Gigabit RJ45 uplink plus a Gigabit SFP fibre uplink, useful where the NVR is some distance away or you want a fibre run between buildings.

Built for camera traffic, not just data

A 36 Gbps switching capacity and 26.784 Mpps forwarding rate keep multiple camera streams moving without bottlenecks, backed by store-and-forward switching and an 8K MAC address table.

Setup and housing

It's unmanaged — plug in and it works, no configuration screens to fight with. The metal 1U case is rack-mountable and carries 6 kV surge protection, which matters if cabling runs outdoors or between buildings where surges are more likely.