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Switched Ethernet, by contrast, is closer to the notion of individual tele-
phone lines: a switching hub examines the incoming MAC addresses of
network packets and forwards them directly to their destinations without
repetition, reducing bandwidth waste and resulting in more predictable net-
work performance. Each node receives its own full-speed pipeline -- band-
width isn't divided up. Switched Ethernet can improve data transfer speeds
and overall efficiency for 10BaseT networks, 100Mbps networks, or both.
The Advantages of Switching
The two main advantages of using a switch like the 10/100 Dual-Speed
Switch are migration and performance boosts.
100BaseTX and 10BaseT networks are not automatically compatible with
each other. Because of their different speeds, their hardware is not readily
interchangable a 10BaseT network adapter, for example, cannot be con-
nected directly to a 100BaseTX network segment. By using a switch,
10BaseT and 100BaseTX hardware can be made to communicate with
each other so you don't need to discard your slower 10Mbps network hard-
ware as you migrate to Fast Ethernet.
As for performance, switching technology boosts any network's efficiency
right away. A network without a switch is called a shared network, which
means that the network's total bandwidth is equal to its speed divided
by the number of users who are actively using the net. A switched net-
work, by contrast, gives each user a full-speed pipeline that isn't shared by
any other users, which causes an immediate speed and/or efficiency
increase of up to 80%.
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