Gigabyte 41000BASE-T User Manual

 

upgrade and takes advantage of the existing investment in 
hardware, software, and personnel training. 

Another key development  pushing the limits of Ethernet 
technology is in the field of switching technology. A switch 
bridges Ethernet packets at the MAC address level of the 
Ethernet protocol transmitting among connected Ethernet or 
fast Ethernet LAN segments. 

Switching is a cost-effective way of increasing the total network 
capacity available to users on a local area network. A switch 
increases capacity and decreases network loading by making it 
possible for a local area network to be divided into different 
segments  which don’t compete with each other for network 
transmission capacity, giving a decreased load on each. 

The switch acts as a high-speed selective bridge between the 
individual segments. Traffic that needs to go from one segment 
to another is automatically forwarded by the switch, without 
interfering with any other segments. This allows the total 
network capacity to be multiplied, while still maintaining the 
same network cabling and adapter cards. 

Switching LAN technology is a marked improvement over the 
previous generation of network bridges, which were 
characterized by higher latencies.  Routers have also been used 
to segment local area networks, but the cost of a router and the 
setup and maintenance required make routers relatively 
impractical. Today’s switches are an ideal solution to most 
kinds of local area network congestion problems.