In general, there are three kinds of switches available today: Bounded Systems, Stackable Switches, and Chassis systems.

Bounded Systems
A bounded system contains a specified number of ports and data rates. When the number of users is known and is expected to remain stable, this type of switch is the most economical.

Stackable Switches
Just as there are different types of switches, there are also different types of "stackable" switches. In its most formal sense, a stackable switch configuration allows two or more switches to be clustered in such a way that they function and appear to device management systems to be one switch. To do this requires special cabling connecting the backplanes of the switches. For the purpose of this discussion, we will call this type of stacking "Type 1."

In a looser sense, stacking can mean connecting switches through their "uplink" ports to provide additional ports as needed. This type of stacking, which we will call "Type 2," does not include the management features of Type 1, but with today's Gigabit uplink ports, stacking switches in this manner can be advantageous, and is certainly less expensive than the management-rich "Type 1." version.

Chassis Switches
A Chassis Switch consists of a "base chassis" which can hold a certain number of "Modules" containing various configurations of ports. The modules may support 10Mbps, 10/100 Mbps, or Gbps Ethernet, 16Mbps Token Ring, high-speed serial interfaces, or packet-over-SONET.

Although the WideBand WB8G2CM, WB24T2EML3, and WB24T2EM have fixed numbers of ports, they feature optional gigabit modules for either multi-mode or single-mode fiber, or for Gigabit Ethernet with copper cabling, thus taking on a feature of a Chassis Switch. This provides some of the flexibility of a chassis switch, while keeping cost minimal.