We are curious about using multicast on the Gigastax switch, is this possible, or would It require additional hardware?
If it does, do you offer similar mezzanine-style gigabit switches that would support this?
Achieving multicast means having a processor on the dataplane that can listen for IGMP messages and then update the switch based on these requests.
We developed SwitchBlox Rugged + Rugged SOM as a combination to achieve this. SwitchBlox Rugged provides the 5 ethernet ports, while Rugged SOM stacks to the back, utilising a sixth port to listen for IGMP requests, and updating the chip on SwitchBlox Rugged accordingly. Rugged SOM also provides a command line interface into SwitchBlox Rugged. Rugged SOM uses an iMX6 processor for this.
This functionality does not exist on GigaStax Rugged, though since GigaStax Rugged uses the same family of chip as SwitchBlox Rugged, it would be possible to reuse our firmware/software. However it would require a new piece of hardware to stack onto GigaStax Rugged, or a redesign of GigaStax Rugged to put an iMX6 on the same board. Currently that’s not in the works.
We are developing UbiSwitch which has a CLI for management, but it doesn’t have a processor inband and thus cannot do multicast.
Which is to say, this is not easily possible at present on a gigabit board, but works just fine at 10/100 on SwitchBlox Rugged. Of course, SwitchBlox Rugged is not board mateable.