No. The switch works out of the box with local web, CLI, and SNMP management, and it carries a limited lifetime hardware warranty. The optional Sophos Switch Support and Services subscription, sold per switch per year, adds Sophos Central management with extra features, firmware updates, advanced RMA, and 24x7 support. If that subscription lapses, the switch keeps running, but Sophos Central drops to read-only and firmware updates stop.

It has a 410W PoE budget shared across all 8 ports and supports 802.3af, 802.3at, and 802.3bt (PoE++) up to 60W per port. That covers up to six 60W devices, or eight PoE++ devices drawing a little less, such as Sophos AP6 840E access points, IP cameras, and VoIP phones. Every port is PoE capable, so you're not limited to a subset.

The eight copper ports are multi-gigabit RJ45 (1G/2.5G/5G/10G base-T) for connecting and powering your edge devices over standard Ethernet cabling, with Cat6 recommended to reach a full 10G. The four SFP+ ports (1G/10G) are for fiber runs or high-speed uplinks back to your core or firewall, so the link between the access layer and the rest of the network doesn't become the bottleneck.

Yes. Add the switch to Sophos Central and manage it in the same console as your Sophos Firewall and AP6 access points. Central also unlocks virtual switch stacking and Active Threat Response, which can automatically isolate a compromised host across your switches and access points. Prefer to stay local? The web UI, CLI, and SNMP are all included at no extra cost.

Yes, through Sophos Central. Central switch stacking lets you build and manage a group of switches as one unit, connecting them with standard Ethernet, SFP, or SFP+ ports and using LAG for added throughput and redundancy. It's cloud-managed virtual stacking rather than a dedicated hardware stacking backplane, and it requires a valid support subscription.

It can be, unless you actually need 10-gig at the edge. The 1000 Series is the fastest, most capable Sophos switch and is aimed at high-throughput access layers. For a typical small office running gigabit or 2.5-gig, a 100 or 200 Series model is usually the better value. Not sure which tier fits? Talk to a Sophos-certified expert and we'll size it with you.