By nature, Ethernet is a shared medium. Each node sends data packets when it determines that bandwidth is available. There are times when two or more clients may send data simultaneously, resulting in collisions. When collisions occur, the data is retransmitted, resulting in additional network traffic. If your network utilization is over 40 percent and your collision rate more than 10 percent, a switch can help.
Switches divide each port into a separate segment or collision domain with dedicated bandwidth.
Unlike hubs, they look at each data packet and send it to only the appropriate location or segment rather than forwarding it blindly to all ports. The switch collects the actual client addresses and stores them in a table for future reference. Packets with errors or that appear incorrect aren't forwarded, reducing unnecessary traffic. Networking Hardware, software, infrastructure and management tool reviews.