Netgear FS518T User Manual download pdf (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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Netgear FS518T User Manual Page 9