![\"\"](\"\/media\/images\/switch.gif\")
<\/p>\nThe best way I can think to describe the function of a switch is to ask you to conjure the image of an old fashioned switchboard operator at a telephone exchange (you’re showing your age if you can!). In the early days of the telephone, the two handsets (caller and receiver) were connected by a dedicated cable (called a tieline).<\/p>\n
When telephone networks were established, different telephone cables were connected via an exchange. A switchboard operator would physically connect the caller to the receiving party by plugging one line into a socket that connected to another line thus forming, for the duration of the call, a single dedicated line between the calling party and the called party.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Today, the switchboard operator has been replaced by a device called a switch. In computer networks (LAN and WAN) switches are used in a similar principle, forming virtual circuits between sending and receiving computers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today, network designers are moving away from using bridges and hubs and are primarily using switches and routers to build networks. A switch is a device that will create an electronic circuit between a source and destination host.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech-terms"],"yoast_head":"\n