As the switch has many advantages, its application and development speed is much higher than the hub, in order to meet the needs of different application environments, there have been various types of switches. According to the different division, there are the following categories:

1, divided from the network coverage

(1) WAN switch, mainly used in telecommunications metro interconnection, Internet access and other fields, to provide the basic platform for communication.

(2) LAN switches, commonly used in local area networks, are used to connect terminal devices such as servers, workstations, hubs, routers, network printers and other network devices to provide high-speed independent communication channels, which is the most common switch.

2, according to the transmission medium and transmission speed division

(1) Ethernet switch, used in the bandwidth of 100Mbps below the Ethernet, the most widely used, the transmission medium can be: twisted pair, thin coaxial cable and coaxial cable and so on.

(2) Fast Ethernet switch, used in 100Mbps Fast Ethernet, the transmission medium can be: twisted pair, fiber.

(3) Gigabit Ethernet switch, used in Gigabit Ethernet, also known as "Gigabit bit (GB) Ethernet, it is because of its bandwidth can reach 1000Mbps. It is generally used for a large network of backbone backbone, transmission media can be: fiber, twisted pair.

(4) 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches, mainly in order to adapt to today's l0 Gigabit Ethernet access, it is generally used for the backbone network segment, the transmission medium for the fiber.

(5) ATM switches, switches for ATM networks. ATM networks are generally only widely used in the backbone of the telecommunications network segment, the transmission medium is generally used fiber.

(FDDI), FDDI technology is developed before the rapid Ethernet technology has not been developed, and its transmission speed can reach 100Mbps, with the rapid application of fast Ethernet technology, FDDI technology will gradually be eliminated, the transmission medium Generally use fiber.