switched Ethernet
An Ethernet network that is controlled by a switch instead of a shared hub. The switch cross connects all clients, servers and network devices, giving each sending-receiving pair the full rated transmission speed. Half-duplex speed between nodes is 10 Mbps for Ethernet (10Base-T) and 100 Mbps for Fast Ethernet (100Base-T). Full-duplex is 20 and 200 Mbps. For more connections, a switch port can be wired to another switch or hub.
From Shared to Switched
Migrating from shared Ethernet to switched Ethernet provides a dramatic increase in throughput. For example, a 24-port 100Base-T hub shares the total 200 Mbps bandwidth with all 24 attached nodes. By replacing the hub with a switch, each of the 12 sender/receiver pairs has the full 200 Mbps capacity.
In addition, the migration only requires replacing older hubs with switches. The existing network adapters (NICs) in every computer that were previously connected to the hub are still valid when wired to the switch. See N-way.
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| Ethernet Switch |
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| This 10/100 16-port switch from Omnitron supports 10Base-T and 100Base-T. This was one of the first 16-port switches that was totally quiet because it did not use a fan. |