3Com 3C16611 SuperStack II Dual Speed Hub 500 24-Port 10/100 Managed

3Com 3C16611 SuperStack II Dual Speed Hub 500 24-Port 10/100 Managed

The 3Com 3C16611 SuperStack II Dual Speed Hub 500 is a 24-port 10/100 autosensing managed stackable hub (repeater) designed for shared Ethernet networks. It automatically senses the speed of each connected device — 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps — and places it on the appropriate collision domain, allowing legacy 10 Mbps workstations and 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet devices to coexist in the same unit. The hub provides two independent segments: one for 100 Mbps traffic and one for 10 Mbps traffic, with per-port MDI/MDIX selection and a rear-panel DB-9 serial console port for out-of-band management.

Specifications & What's Included

• Model: 3Com 3C16611 (also referenced as 3C1661)
• Series: SuperStack II Dual Speed Hub 500
• 24 x RJ-45 (TP) autosensing ports — 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps per port
• MDI / MDIX selectable per port
• Two independent segments: 100 Mbps segment and 10 Mbps segment
• Per-port LED indicators: green = 100 Mbps, yellow = 10 Mbps
• Status and Segment LEDs on front panel
• Rear-panel DB-9 serial console port (9600, 8, 1, N)
• Two rear-panel Centronics-style proprietary stacking interface ports
• Power: 100–240V AC, 50/60 Hz, 1.0A (IEC inlet)
• Form factor: 1U rackmount / desktop
• Hub only — no cables, manual, or rack mount hardware included

Applications

The SuperStack II Dual Speed Hub 500 was designed for small-to-medium office and workgroup networks during the transition period from shared 10 Mbps Ethernet to 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet in the mid-to-late 1990s. It allowed network administrators to upgrade parts of a network to 100 Mbps while keeping existing 10 Mbps workstations on the same hub, without replacing all end-node equipment at once. The stackable design — using 3Com's proprietary stacking modules — let multiple SuperStack II units be linked together and managed as a single logical stack, reducing cabling complexity in wiring closets. As a hub (repeater) rather than a switch, all ports within a segment share bandwidth, which suits small environments or legacy systems where switching overhead is unnecessary. Today these units are occasionally used in lab environments, legacy network testing setups, or as low-cost connectivity for isolated segments where per-port bandwidth sharing is acceptable.