Generally, convergence layer equipment adopts manageable three-layer switches or stacked switches to meet the requirements of bandwidth and transmission performance. Its equipment performance is good, but the price is higher than that of the access layer equipment, and it also has higher requirements for the environment, such as electromagnetic radiation, temperature, humidity, air cleanliness and so on.
Optical fiber interconnection is often used between convergence layer devices and between convergence layer devices and core layer devices to improve the transmission performance and throughput of the system. Generally speaking, user access control will be arranged in the access layer, but this is not absolute, and it can also be arranged in convergence layer. When security control and identity authentication are realized in convergence layer, centralized management mode is adopted.
When the network scale is large, comprehensive security management strategies can be designed, such as identity authentication and MAC address binding in the access layer, flow control and access rights restriction in convergence layer.
Convergence layer is the information gathering point of a building or community, and it is a network device connecting the access layer and the core layer, providing data acquisition, transmission, management and distribution processing for the access layer. Convergence layer provides policy-based connection for access layer, such as address merging, protocol filtering, routing service, authentication management, etc.
Network segment isolation (such as VLAN) and network isolation can prevent some network segment problems from spreading and affecting the core layer. Convergence layer can also provide interconnection between virtual networks in the access layer, control and restrict the access of the access layer to the core layer, and ensure the security and stability of the core layer.