Wiznet makers

Wiznet network support chips have consistently led the industry in terms of size and capabilities for several years. This superiority has not gone unnoticed, even by Arduino itself, as these chips are integrated into authorized Ethernet Shields. Today, our focus is not on the Ethernet Shield but on the Ethernet module based on the Wiznet W5500 chip. The module, compact in size and not much larger than an Ethernet port, is suitable for use in smaller projects.

Advantages of Wiznet chips over ENC chips:

While modules based on Wiznet chips may be slightly more expensive than those using ENC chips, this price difference is justified. Wiznet chips, unlike ENC chips, handle the majority of protocols and operations in hardware. This results in the module chip bearing the operational load, sparing our microcontroller. This capability enables fast and efficient network operation, even for 8-bit chips. Additionally, Wiznet chips allow the utilization of their RAM, providing an added advantage. Another compelling reason to choose Wiznet chips is the official support from Arduino. With better-developed libraries, programming this module becomes a quicker learning process, and the resulting program is more lightweight.