Atlantis Land A02-F16(24)/M2 ユーザーズマニュアル

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Switching Technology 
Another approach to pushing beyond the limits of Ethernet technology 
is the development of switching technology. A switch bridge 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 dividing a local 
area network into different segments, which don’t compete with each 
other for network transmission capacity. 
The switch acts as a high-speed selective bridge between the 
individual segments.    The switch, without interfering with any other 
segments, automatically forwards traffic that needs to go from one 
segment to another.  By doing this the total network capacity is 
multiplied, while still maintaining the same network cabling and 
adapter cards. 
For Fast Ethernet networks, a switch is an effective way of eliminating 
problems of chaining hubs beyond the “two-repeater limit.” A switch 
can be used to split parts of the network into different collision 
domains, making it possible to expand your Fast Ethernet network 
beyond the 205-meter network diameter limit for 100BASE-TX 
networks.    Switches supporting both traditional 10Mbps Ethernet and 
100Mbps Fast Ethernet are also ideal for bridging between the 
existing 10Mbps networks and the new 100Mbps networks. 
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, the setup and maintenance required 
make routers relatively impractical.  Today switches are an ideal