HP 3100 EI series switches are Layer 2 Ethernet switches designed for enterprise networks demanding high security and intelligence. They provide 10/100 Mbps downlink and 1000 Mbps uplink Ethernet ports, and serve as access devices for 100 Mbps-to-desktop applications in enterprise networks. In metropolitan area networks or various industry networks, they connect end users or aggregate client devices with 10/100 Mbps connections, converging at a higher-capacity switch with 1000 Mbps interfaces. Features include advanced Quality of Service (QoS), rate limiting, QinQ (virtual LAN [VLAN]/VPN), SSHv2, Multicast VLAN Registration (MVR), Virtual Cable Tester (VCT), HGMP V2, GARP VLAN Registration Protocol (GVRP), access control list (ACL), media access control (MAC)-IP-port binding, Endpoint Admission Defense, voice and protocol-based VLAN, Internet Group Management Protocol snooping, and Power over Ethernet (PoE).

Quality of Service (QoS)
• Broadcast control: allows limitation of broadcast traffic rate to cut down on unwanted network broadcast traffic

Management
• Friendly port names: allow assignment of descriptive names to ports

Connectivity
• IPv6 (on v2 products): Telnet v6: to allow IPv6 management. DNSv6 Client: for IPv6 host management. SNMPv6: for IPv6 switch management. DHCPv6 Client: for automatic IPv6 address configuration of a switch.

Performance
• Hardware-based wire-speed access control lists (ACLs): feature-rich ACL implementation (TCAM based) helps provide high levels of security and ease of administration without impacting network performance

Resiliency and high availability
• Separate data and control paths: increase security and performance

Layer 2 switching
• PVST+ on v2 products: provides greater interoperability

Layer 3 services
• Address Resolution Protocol (ARP): determines the MAC address of another IP host in the same subnet