NETGEAR FS518T - Manual (Page 9)

introduction 1-1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Congratulations on your purchase of the NETGEAR Model FS518T Fast Ethernet
Switch. This switch provides you with a low-cost, high-performance network solution
and is designed to support power workgroups operating at either 10 megabits per
second (Mbps) or 100 Mbps.
To relieve server and backbone bottlenecks, the Model FS518T switch also has
two Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45 uplink ports.
Benefits of Using Switching Technology
A majority of installed networks today are based on shared network technology.
With this technology, a number of users or groups of users share a total available
network bandwidth (or network capacity) of 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, or other amounts
of network bandwidth. For example, with a total of 10 users, the average bandwidth
available to each user on a 10 Mbps network is calculated as 10/10 Mbps, which
equals 1 Mbps of bandwidth per user. On a 100 Mbps (Fast Ethernet) network, the
average bandwidth available to each of the 10 users is 100/10 Mbps, which equals
10 Mbps of bandwidth per user.
Ethernet switches significantly increase network throughput by segmenting network
traffic. They check traffic coming in to each port to learn which network device
is located on which segment. Based on this information, switches forward cross-
segment traffic only to the appropriate segment. The traffic will not show up in
the other segments because it is filtered out. In this way, network capacity is fully
reserved for traffic destined for that segment only, and other segments will not be
saturated with unnecessary traffic.
Ethernet switches provide private, dedicated, 10 Mbps (or 100 Mbps) capacity to
each connected PC/server or hub/workgroup segment, which is significantly higher
than in a shared environment. The higher bandwidth enables the use of applications
such as multimedia, imaging, video, or high-performance client-server functions
among users who are spread out over the network.
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