Know Your LAN (Part One)

Local Area Network, or LAN for short. The whole Internet is based on the concept of LANs, literally.

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Part One - What is a Switch (You are here)

Part Two - How and what does the Switch do?

Part Three - Advanced explanation of the Switch from a Network Engineering viewpoint. (Link to be added)

Your Home Network usually consists of a Router/Modem and an optional Switch. Since a lot of devices work on wireless connections these days, there's less need for wired connections. So because of that, the Switch is rarely seen in any household. However, if you go to any company, the Switch is an integral part of the network infrastructure.

Back in the day, there was something called a Hub. Hubs are old and no longer used, however they are the reason why Switches exist today. The whole point of a Network is to share information and connect people. But in real life when you want to talk to a person, you go to them and talk to them, right? You wouldn't go around telling everyone now, would you.

The Hub did exactly that unfortunately, he's like that cousin that never knows when to shut up. You tell him something, then you wake up the next morning and the whole neighborhood knows you had sex and your father is about to disown you. See where I am going? No one likes that.

That's why the Hub was called a "Bit Spitter". You send anyone any form of data, and that data gets duplicated and sent to everyone.

The Switch was then invented to replace the annoying Hub. It was smarter, made decisions based on who you wanted to talk to. And most importantly, didn't spread the word to every single person on the planet.

So to sum it all up. The Switch is the younger brother of the Hub. When you send data from your PC to another PC in your LAN, the Switch will forward the data only to that PC. However, keep in mind that the Switch is unable to go to the internet, that's the Router's job. There will be a section for the Router later on, so don't worry.