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Introduction to Switching
An Ethernet or Fast Ethernet switch allows simultaneous
transmission of multiple packets via high-bandwidth shared
memory. This means that it can partition a network more
efficiently than bridges or routers. The switch is, therefore, fast
being recognized as one of the most important building blocks
for today’s networking technology.
When performance bottlenecks are caused by congestion at the
network access point (such as the network card for a high-
volume file server), the device (server, power user or switch)
can be attached directly to a switched port. And, by using full-
duplex mode, the bandwidth of the dedicated segment can be
doubled to maximize throughput.*
When networks are based on repeater (hub) technology, the
maximum distance between end stations is limited. For
Ethernet, there may be up to four hubs between any pair of
stations; for Fast Ethernet, the maximum is two. This is known
as the hop count. However, a switch turns the hop count back
to zero, so subdividing the network into smaller and more
manageable segments, and linking them to the larger network
by means of a switch, removes this limitation.
A switch can be easily configured in any Ethernet or Fast
Ethernet network to significantly boost bandwidth while using
conventional cabling and network cards.
*Note: When connected to a shared collision domain (such as a hub with
multiple workstations), each switched port may operate only in half-
duplex mode.
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PLANNING