Switch

A network switch (sometimes known as a switching hub) is a computer networking device that is used to connect many devices together on a computer network. A switch is considered more advanced than ahub because a switch will only send a message to the device that needs or requests it, rather than broadcasting the same message out of each of its ports.[1]

A switch is a multi-port network bridge that processes and forwards data at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model. Some switches have additional features, including the ability to route packets. These switches are commonly known as layer-3 or multilayer switches. Switches exist for various types of networks including Fibre Channel, Asynchronous Transfer Mode, InfiniBand, Ethernet and others. The first Ethernet switch was introduced by Kalpana in 1990.[2]