What is Switch in Networking?
A Switch in Networking is a small hardware device that connects multiple devices such as computers, printers, wireless access points, etc., within one local area network (LAN). It is the key building block of any network and enables the connected devices to send, receive or forward information with each other. A switch operates in layer 2, also known a the OSI model’s Data Link layer. Switches are the most commonly used component of networks based on Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Ethernet, InfiniBand, and more. These work by reducing the workload on the individual PCs and thereby increasing the overall bandwidth of the network. Switches use MAC addresses to support unicast, multicast, and broadcast communications to selected destination ports. These are broadly categorised into four types – Unmanaged switch, Managed switch, LAN switch, and PoE switch.
