Alcatel Carrier Internetworking Solutions Switch/Router 사용자 설명서

Page 1-3

Many switches in the market employ a shared memory architecture, which uses a central 
switching engine to send data to the appropriate port. As shown in the figure below, data 
enters the input port (

➊

 below), crosses the switching fabric on its way to the central switch-

ing engine(

➋

 below), and again crosses the switching fabric (

➌

 below) before exiting the 

appropriate output port (

❹

 below).

In contrast, Omni Switch/Router switches use a distributed switching fabric. As shown in the 
figure below, data enters the input port and crosses the switching fabric only once before 
exiting the appropriate output port. Compared to the shared memory architecture, only half 
as much bandwidth is required since data just crosses the switching fabric once.

➊

➋

➌

❹