Switch Cisco Catalyst 3850

A switch is a small hardware and acts like a controller that centralizes communications among multiple connected devices, thus enabling networked devices to transmit information to each other efficiently. Nowadays, many home and business networks use switches to connect computers, printers and servers within a building or home. As switch enables quick information sharing and efficient resource allocation, it results in savings for businesses and increasing employee productivity at the same time.

Switches is usually used in conjunction with a router to provide connections to large number of devices as ports on the back of a router can only connect a few Ethernet devices together. Moreover, switch has a number of additional advantages such as the ability to control of who has access to various parts of the network, manage the amount of usage and prevent the traffic between any two devices from getting in the way one another while under the same network. Last but not least, switches allow even more speedy communication between devices than the Internet.

Switches have many different port speeds ranging from the fundamental speeds of Fast Ethernet 10/100 Mbps to the Gigabit Ethernet theoretical speed of 1,000 Mbps.Gigabit switches typically increases the speed of local network. Most home users don’t need gigabit switches because most people don't do much more than simply accessing the internet. However, gigabit switches are favored in businesses as they require fast network to support heavy-data traffic.

An unmanaged switch that simply allows Ethernet devices such as computers and network printers to communicate with one another and is not designed to be configured thus there’s no need for any setting up or installing prior to using it. Because unmanaged switches are shipped with a fixed configuration and do not allow any changes to this configuration, they require less maintenance and do not have to be reconfigured every time network changes. Moreover, unmanaged switches also have less network capacity than managed switches, they are usually found in home networking equipment where there are not many devices to be connected together.

Managed switch provide all the functions of an unmanaged switch but offering greater flexibility and capacity than an unmanaged switch by providing the ability to configure, manage, and monitor LAN. Managed switches also use protocols such as the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), in which SNMP queries can determine the network condition or the status of a specific device. SNMP displays data which enable IT managers at a central location to detect and repair network problems without having to physically come to contact with the switch. Other well-known features of managed switches include link aggregation, and QoS support.