Introduction, Gigabit Ethernet Technology

Chapter 1: Introduction

Congratulations on your purchase of the NetComm 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet Web Smart Switch, available in either 16-Port or 24-Port models. This device integrates 1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet, 100Mbps Fast Ethernet and 10Mbps Ethernet network capabilities in a highly flexible package.

In this guide, the term “Switch” (first letter upper case) refers to your 16 or 24 Port 10/100/ 1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet Web Smart Switch, and “switch” (first letter lower case) refers to other Ethernet switches.

This chapter describes the features of your new Switch and some background information about Ethernet/Fast Ethernet/Gigabit Ethernet switching technology.

Gigabit Ethernet Technology

Gigabit Ethernet is an extension of IEEE 802.3 Ethernet utilizing the same packet structure, format, and support for CSMA/CD protocol, full duplex, flow control, and management objects, but with a tenfold increase in theoretical throughput over 100-Mbps Fast Ethernet and a hundredfold increase over 10-Mbps Ethernet. Since it is compatible with all 10-Mbps and 100-Mbps Ethernet environ- ments, Gigabit Ethernet provides a straightforward upgrade without wasting a company’s existing investment in hardware, software and trained personnel.

The increased speed and extra bandwidth offered by Gigabit Ethernet is essential for coping with network bottlenecks that frequently develop as computers and get faster and more applications generate more traffic. Upgrading key components, such as your backbone and servers to Gigabit Ethernet can greatly improve network response times as well as significantly speed up the traffic between your subnets.

Gigabit Ethernet enables fast ethernet connections to support video conferencing, complex imaging, and similar data-intensive applications. Likewise, since data transfers occur 10 times faster than Fast Ethernet, servers outfitted with Gigabit Ethernet NIC’s are able to perform 10 times the number of operations in the same amount of time.

In addition, the phenomenal bandwidth delivered by Gigabit Ethernet is the most cost-effective method to take advantage of today’s and tomorrow’s rapidly improving switching and routing internetworking technologies.

NetComm 16 or 24 port Gigabit Switch	YML711 Rev1
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