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Gigabit Ethernet Switch User's Guide
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NTRODUCTION
This section describes the features of the DGS-3208TG, as well as giving some background information about
Gigabit Ethernet and switching technology.
Gigabit Ethernet Technology
Gigabit Ethernet is an extension of IEEE 802.3 Ethernet utilizing the same packet structure, format, and
support for CSMA/CD protocol, full duplex, flow control, and management objects, but with a tenfold increase
in theoretical throughput over 100-Mbps Fast Ethernet and a hundredfold increase over 10-Mbps Ethernet.
Since it is compatible with all 10-Mbps and 100-Mbps Ethernet environments, Gigabit Ethernet provides a
straightforward upgrade without wasting a company's existing investment in hardware, software, and trained
personnel.
The increased speed and extra bandwidth offered by Gigabit Ethernet is essential to coping with the network
bottlenecks that frequently develop as computers and their busses get faster and more users use applications
that generate more traffic. Upgrading key components, such as your backbone and servers to Gigabit Ethernet
can greatly improve network response times as well as significantly speed up the traffic between your subnets.
Gigabit Ethernet enables fast fiber-optic and copper connections to support video conferencing, complex
imaging, and similar data-intensive applications. Likewise, since data transfers occur 10 times faster than
Fast Ethernet, servers outfitted with Gigabit Ethernet NIC's are able to perform 10 times the number of
operations in the same amount of time.
In addition, the phenomenal bandwidth delivered by Gigabit Ethernet is the most cost-effective method to
take advantage of today and tomorrow's rapidly improving switching and routing internetworking
technologies. And with expected advances in the coming years in silicon technology and digital signal
processing that will enable Gigabit Ethernet to eventually operate over unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cabling,
outfitting your network with a powerful 1000-Mbps-capable backbone/server connection creates a flexible
foundation for the next generation of network technology products.
Switching Technology
Another key development pushing the limits of Ethernet technology is in the field of switching technology. A
switch bridges Ethernet packets at the MAC address level of the Ethernet protocol transmitting among
connected Ethernet or fast Ethernet LAN segments.
Switching is a cost-effective way of increasing the total network capacity available to users on a local area
network. A switch increases capacity and decreases network loading by making it possible for a local area
network to be divided into different segments which don't compete with each other for network transmission
capacity, giving a decreased load on each.
The switch acts as a high-speed selective bridge between the individual segments. Traffic that needs to go
from one segment to another is automatically forwarded by the switch, without interfering with any other
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