SwitcHub-2s User’s Guide
1-2 Introduction
Accton’s Smart Extender (The Fast SwitcHub-2s)Accton’s Smart Extender can boost network bandwidth fourfold, depending on
your configuration (i.e., if running at 100Mbps and full-duplex operation for
both ports). It provides two 10/100 Mbps RJ-45 ports (set at full or half-duplex)
to connect to either a subnetwork, or directly to a server or key workstation. In
addition to partitioning an overloaded network, it provides connection between
legacy 10BASE-T networks and the newer generation 100BASE-TX, and can
be configured to operate in either full-duplex or half-duplex data transfer mode
to support the interconnection requirements of other high-speed devices.
This switching hub performs "on-the-fly" cut-through switching, which sends a
packet to the other port according to the destination address scanned from the
packet header. This technique reduces the latency of packet transmission to 20
microseconds or less. Compared to approximately 800 microseconds for a
bridge or 1800 microseconds for a router, both of which have to store the entire
packet before the it can be forwarded, the SwitcHub can deliver a quantum
improvement in your network’s performance.
As a device functioning on the media access control (MAC) layer, the
SwitcHub is protocol independent, and therefore compatible with IEEE802.3,
IEEE802.3u, TCP/IP, NetWare, DECnet and XNS protocols. Accton’s Smart
Extender can be configured as a 2-port bridge for a 10BASE-T environment; it
can provide a connection between conventional 10BASE-T and high-speed
100BASE-TX networks; or can serve as a 2-port bridge in a 100BASE-TX
environment. Moreover, where traditional 100BASE-TX networks restrict the
maximum distance between end-nodes to 205 meters, the Smart Extender
breaks down this barrier. By breaking your network into smaller and more
manageable segments, each linked to the larger network with a switch, the
maximum distance for communications between end-nodes is unlimited.