The cDAQ-9185 chassis feature a full hardware-accelerated internal Ethernet switch for greater performance, wiring flexibility, and compatibility over standard Ethernet ports.

The switch also exposes the two Ethernet ports to the user. Either port can be used to connect the chassis to the network. In addition to daisy-chaining, the switch also supports the Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) algorithm, enabling ring topologies. Refer to the Topology Options section for more details.