Switches Allow the Highest Speeds Between Workstation and Server. Read about the different options to prevent bottlenecks.

Today, your desktop population probably requires a mix of 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps service to meet the individual demands of your users. As you deliver higher speeds to the desktop, server connections may become strained, so you need options to scale to Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, or ATM for high-speed desktop and server connections as well as in the backbone. With switches, you can support all of your bandwidth requirements with the appropriate technology and the appropriate level of control.

Ethernet
Today, Ethernet is the most popular topology for implementing local area networks. Ethernet provides bandwidth that can be either shared across a number of users using hubs, or dedicated to workstations using switched technology. The availability of low-cost Ethernet switches has also made it possible to deliver dedicated 10 Mbps full-duplex links to the desktop, for affordable high-performance, high functionality, and highly manageable networks.

Fast Ethernet
Fast Ethernet, based on the Ethernet standard, is a high-speed technology that runs over your existing infrastructure, works with your existing management systems, and requires no retraining by your IT staff. Fast Ethernet is one of the most popular high-speed technologies because it's cost effective, stable, and compatible with existing Ethernet LAN environments. Fast Ethernet runs over 100BASE-FX fiber and 100BASE-TX copper. For greater performance, full-duplex is also supported.

10/100 Mbps Ethernet/Fast Ethernet
10/100 Ethernet/Fast Ethernet with auto-sensing capability is one of the most economical and flexible ways to add bandwidth immediately—while maintaining migration options to higher bandwidth in the future. 10/100 technology combines conventional 10BASE-T and high-speed 100BASE-TX support in one device, delivering higher bandwidth to the desktop, aggregating 10/100 hubs, and maintaining the status quo for those who are efficiently served by 10 Mbps Ethernet. With 10/100 autosensing functionality, there is no need to configure individual switched ports. The switch automatically senses the speed of the connected end device (either 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps) and channels the data through at the appropriate peed.

Gigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet retains the traditional simplicity and manageability of Ethernet and Fast Ethernet making it easy to integrate with existing LAN equipment. It allows a tenfold increase in backbone bandwidth over Fast Ethernet with minimal impact on support staff. The extra bandwidth helps you deal with unplanned changes and additions to the network, and frees you from constantly tuning the network. Gigabit Ethernet is a powerful backbone/server solution because it delivers phenomenal bandwidth cost effectively, preserves the Ethernet frame format, and works with your existing traffic management systems.

ATM
ATM is an established LAN backbone technology that offers significant benefits to larger organizations by providing tight integration between LAN and WAN environments and offering high levels of resilience and redundancy. In the LAN environment, OC-3c (155 Mbps) and OC-12c (622 Mbps) connections are used to communicate across the network. While these connections do not provide the raw bandwidth of Gigabit Ethernet, ATM provides alternative methods for delivering effective backbone solutions, such as Quality of Service (QoS), which guarantees bandwidth to applications. The control offered by ATM enables the deterministic delivery of applications and services in complex network environments.

Layer 3 Switching
Intranets and extranets, while proving indispensable for companies of all sizes, are also causing new traffic management problems. Hypertext links between servers and e-mails create any-to-any traffic that are overwhelming legacy LAN routers. As a result, companies are experiencing more bottlenecks between subnetworks. Layer 3 switching solves these intranet bottleneck problems by embedding classical routing in the switch hardware that routes traffic at high speeds while intelligently isolating faults, containing broadcast traffic, and providing seamless subnet/VLAN connections.


The information above was obtained from the 3Com web site.