A fully switched network is a

computer network A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. The computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other. These interconnections are ...

which uses only

network switch A network switch (also called switching hub, bridging hub, and, by the IEEE, MAC bridge) is networking hardware that connects devices on a computer network by using packet switching to receive and forward data to the destination device. A netw ...

es rather than

Ethernet hub An Ethernet hub, active hub, network hub, repeater hub, multiport repeater, or simply hub is a network hardware device for connecting multiple Ethernet devices together and making them act as a single network segment. It has multiple input/out ...

s on

Ethernet network Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 19 ...

s. The switches provide a dedicated connection to each workstation. A switch allows for many conversations to occur simultaneously. Before switches, networks based on hubs data could only allow transmission in one direction at a time, this was called

half-duplex A duplex communication system is a point-to-point system composed of two or more connected parties or devices that can communicate with one another in both directions. Duplex systems are employed in many communications networks, either to allow ...

. By using a switch this restriction is removed;

full-duplex A duplex communication system is a point-to-point system composed of two or more connected parties or devices that can communicate with one another in both directions. Duplex systems are employed in many communications networks, either to allow ...

communication is maintained and the network is

collision In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word ''collision'' refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great fo ...

free. This means that data can now be transmitted in both directions at the same time. Fully switched networks employ either

twisted-pair Twisted pair cabling is a type of wiring used for communications in which two conductors of a single circuit are twisted together for the purposes of improving electromagnetic compatibility. Compared to a single conductor or an untwisted ba ...

or fiber-optic cabling, both of which use separate conductors for sending and receiving data. In this type of environment, Ethernet nodes can forgo the collision detection process and transmit at will, since they are the only potential devices that can access the medium. This means that a fully switched network is a collision-free environment. The core function of a switch is to allow each workstation to communicate only with the switch instead of with each other. This in turn means that data can be sent from workstation to switch and from switch to workstation simultaneously. The core purpose of a switch is to decongest network flow to the workstations so that the connections can transmit more effectively; receiving transmissions that were only specific to their

network address A network address is an identifier for a node or host on a telecommunications network. Network addresses are designed to be unique identifiers across the network, although some networks allow for local, private addresses, or locally administer ...

. With the network decongested and transmitting data in both directions simultaneously this can in fact double network speed and capacity when two workstations are trading information. For example, if your network speed is 5 Mbit/s, then each workstation is able to simultaneously transfer data at 5 Mbit/s.

References

Network performance {{Compu-network-stub

See also

References