switch : Computer Hardware Buyers’ Glossary

*0-9ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ (all)

switch
A switch is a fancy Ethernet hub. The term has many other more general meanings as well. The less technically inclined can think of a switch as a fast hub. In a standard hub only one packet at a time can be transmitted over the entire LAN (Local Area Network). Since packets are interleaved, it still appears to the eye that all computers can communicate simultaneously, if slowly. With a switch, multiple pairs of computers can exchange packets simultaneously. The switch effectively frantically makes and breaks pairwise connections between computers wishing to communicate. It works like a lightning fast phone system, where globally many conversations can happen at once, but each individual workstation can only have one conversation going at a time.

This page is posted
on the web at:

http://mindprod.com/bgloss/switch.html

Optional Replicator mirror
of mindprod.com
on local hard disk J:

J:\mindprod\bgloss\switch.html
Canadian Mind Products
Please the feedback from other visitors, or your own feedback about the site.
Contact Roedy. Please feel free to link to this page without explicit permission.

IP:[65.110.21.43]
Your face IP:[3.233.242.216]
You are visitor number