The Need for Switches
Before switches were invented, every device on a network would receive data from every other device. Every time a frame was detected on the wire, the PC would have to stop for a moment and check the header to see whether it was the intended recipient. Imagine hundreds of frames going out on the network every minute. Every device would soon grind to a halt. Figure 2.8 below shows all the devices on the network; note that they all have to share the same bandwidth because they are connected by hubs, which only forward frames . . .
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