Dell PowerSwitch N1148P-ON PoE+ Switch

The Dell Networking N1148P-ON is a 48-port fully managed gigabit access switch with 1000BASE-T copper on every port and Power over Ethernet on 24 of them, from Dell's entry-level N1100-ON campus range.

It is the highest-density model in that range, and the one bought for the straightforward case: a floor that needs 48 gigabit drops, of which around half have to power something.

Half the ports powered, and why that is usually the right split

Switch buyers habitually over-buy PoE. A 48-port closet rarely has 48 powered devices on it - it has laptops, desktops, printers and fixed hosts that supply their own power, plus a smaller population of access points, phones, cameras and door controllers that do not.

The N1148P-ON is built around that observation: 48 gigabit ports in total, with PoE available on 24 of them. You get powered ports where you need them and ordinary copper everywhere else, without paying for a power supply sized to feed every port simultaneously. In a typical office floor that ratio lands comfortably - a handful of access points, a bank of desk phones, a few cameras - and the unpowered ports absorb everything else.

Where it stops being the right split is a deployment that is mostly powered devices: a camera-dense building, a floor of VoIP handsets at every desk, or a wireless-first office with an access point every few metres. In those cases a fully powered switch is the correct purchase.

Where the N1100-ON range sits

The N1100-ON is Dell's entry-level fully managed campus range - Dell's own description of the line is "fully managed 1GbE Layer 2 switching with Open Networking capabilities". That phrase is worth reading carefully, because both halves of it matter.

Fully managed means this is not a smart switch or a web-managed switch. It runs the same Dell EMC Networking OS6 as every other N-series switch, with the same command line interface, the same embedded web GUI, the same SNMP behaviour and the same Dell OpenManage Network Manager integration. If you already run N-series switches anywhere in the estate, this one configures identically - the same command language, the same templates, the same monitoring.

Open Networking means the platform supports the Open Network Install Environment, so an alternative network operating system can be installed if that is your standard.

The practical value of the first point is deployment consistency across a mixed estate. Head office can run N3200-ON switches while branch sites run N1100-ON, and one team manages both with one skill set and one set of configuration templates. That is the whole reason Dell keeps a common operating system across a range that spans from an eight-port desktop unit to a twelve-switch stack.

What this range does not do

Being clear about the ceiling saves everyone a conversation.

The N1100-ON is an access range. It is not a distribution switch and it is not a stacking platform in the sense the N3200-ON is - Dell's newer campus generation adds 400 Gbps of stacking over 100GbE ports, Advanced Layer 3 with BGP, VRF-lite and BFD, and multigigabit copper. None of that is what the N1100-ON was built for.

If your design needs any of the following, the N1100-ON is the wrong range and you should look at the current campus generation instead:

• More than a gigabit to an access point - Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 units exceed it. See the N3248X-ON for multigig copper, or the N3248PXE-ON for multigig with 802.3bt PoE up to 90W.
• Routing at the closet - BGP, VRF-lite or BFD. The N3248TE-ON has all three at line rate.
• A large single-management-domain stack - the N3200-ON range stacks twelve units at 400 Gbps under one IP address.

What the N1100-ON is very good at is being an inexpensive, well-managed, standards-compliant gigabit access layer for endpoints that are gigabit endpoints. That covers a great deal of real estate.

Deployment, security and management

Dell's N-series feature set carries across the range. Deployment uses USB auto-configuration - insert a USB key and the switch takes its configuration, which is how you deploy a branch site without sending someone who knows the CLI. Management is via the common CLI, the embedded web server, SNMP including Dell EMC OpenManage Network Manager, Telnet or a serial connection.

On the security side the range carries AAA authorization with TACACS+ accounting and RADIUS, and authentication tiering - the ability to order 802.1X, MAC Authentication Bypass and Captive Portal by priority so that a single port can serve a corporate laptop, an unmanaged printer and a guest device with the appropriate treatment for each. Private VLAN extensions and Private VLAN Edge are supported for port isolation.

Dell also states that N-Series products carry the features needed to support a PCI compliant network topology, which is the question that usually comes up when these switches go into retail or hospitality sites.

Software licensing on the used market

A Dell software entitlement is bound to the unit's service tag and to a Dell account, and it does not automatically travel with a switch on the secondary market. A refurbished unit may well arrive with a working OS6 image installed and fully functional, and it may not carry an active entitlement or a Dell support contract. We do not promise a transferred Dell licence, a software subscription or a support contract with a refurbished switch, and you should be sceptical of any reseller who does.

Tell us what you intend to run and we will tell you what state a specific unit is in before it ships.

A note on specifications

We publish figures we can source, and we do not publish figures we cannot. Dell has retired the N1100-ON product pages and we have not been able to obtain a per-model specification sheet for this switch from any Dell channel, including the Internet Archive. Rather than reproduce numbers from a sibling model or from a third-party listing, we have left them out.

The port configuration above comes from our own inventory record for the part. Everything else - switching capacity, forwarding rate, PoE budget, uplink configuration, rack units, dimensions, weight and power draw - is confirmed against the physical unit when we quote. Ask for whatever figure your design depends on and we will measure or verify it rather than guess.

Common questions

How many ports have PoE?

24 of the 48, per our inventory record for this part. If you need all 48 powered, tell us and we will point you at a switch that does it.

Is it stackable?

The N1100-ON is an entry-level access range and does not offer the 400 Gbps stacking architecture of the current N3200-ON generation. Confirm the specific stacking behaviour you need with us before ordering.

Does it run the same software as other Dell N-series switches?

Yes. Dell states that all N-Series switches include Dell EMC Networking OS6, with one common CLI and GUI across the range, and that N-Series switches support ONIE for installing an alternative network operating system.

What is the difference between N1148P-ON and N1148T-ON?

The P suffix denotes the PoE model. A T-suffix unit in the same range is the non-PoE equivalent.

Elsewhere in the Dell campus range

Availability, condition and how to buy

This model is supplied to order. Use the quote request on this page and tell us the port count, PoE requirement and any specification you need verified, and we will confirm availability and configuration against a physical unit.

Every unit is refurbished, professionally reconditioned, powered up, inspected and functionally tested before it ships, and it ships with warranty coverage.

Specifications