Network Switch Confusion

A network switch is a device that connects different network segments together transparently. A network switch port is the location on the switch where devices connect to the switch. The devices connected to a network switch port may be computers, video game systems or even other network switches. Switches are common in large networks, such as in an office building or school. They are also found in households with high-speed Internet, but in this case, they are typically built into a multi-function router.

The term ‘switch’ is a broad catch-all for a wide range of computer network technologies. Even so, network hubs, home routers and network bridges are more commonly called switches than other devices. Each of these devices accomplishes a similar job from a switching standpoint, but is often capable of performing additional tasks outside of switching.

The design of each of these devices centers on its wired ports. These ports appear as rectangular openings that are slightly larger than a phone cord. Depending on the type of device, there may only be a handful of these ports or there may be several dozen. Often, these devices have a single port called an uplink or wide area network (WAN) port, but the rest are switch ports.

Related Brands
HP Hewlett Packard
Cisco Systems
3Com
Compaq
Nortel
IBM
Brocade
Black Box

By: Eric