To make the network go faster, all the wires have to be at top speed, equal to the speed of the hub. A switching hub is important for networks that are in operation continuously. If a network is slowed down by many users, a switching hub can restore the network to its original performance, and better. Switching hubs are slowly replacing routers and bridges on the networks. A Router is a connector that is used to link different networks together.
Routers can direct or route information to the correct destination.
After our lecture we connected a switch and a router to connect our LAN to the WAN directly. Today in class we had a short lecture on the OSI model and its Protocols. An OSI model is 7 layers of tasks that are performed to transfer information on a network. The 7 layers of the OSI model are Application, Presentation, Session, Transport, Network, Data Link, and Physical. OSI stands for Open Systems Interconnection model.