Section 1 - Product Overview
Switches provide full-line speed and dedicated bandwidth for all connections. This is in contrast to hubs, which use the traditional shared networking topology, where the connected nodes contend for the same network bandwidth. When two switching nodes are communicating, they are connected with a dedicated channel between them, so there is no contention for network bandwidth with other nodes. As a result, the switch reduces considerably, the likelihood of traffic congestion.
For Ethernet networks, a switch is an effective way of eliminating the problem of chaining hubs beyond the “two-repeater limit.” A switch can be used to split parts of the network into different collision domains, making it possible to expand your Ethernet network beyond the 205-meter network diameter limit for 100BASE-TX networks. Switches supporting both 10Mbps Ethernet and 100Mbps Fast Ethernet are also ideal for bridging between existing 10Mbps networks and newer 100Mbps networks.
Switching LAN technology is a marked improvement over the previous generation of network hubs and bridges, which were characterized by higher latencies. Routers have also been used to segment local area networks, but the cost of a router, the setup and maintenance required, make routers relatively impractical. Today switches are an ideal solution to most kinds of local area network congestion problems.
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