In our last article, The Ping: How Does a Network Work?, we explained that a network “….allows all your devices to communicate and share data/resources with each other, either wirelessly or wired in a secure environment.” A Switch is the core of this environment. Switches allow the computers on your network to talk directly to one another. What if you want your computer to get to the internet or another network? You need a router for this. A router “routes” data from within your network to and from outside networks like the internet. If you’ve never heard of a router you’re not alone. Most small to medium sized businesses do not use plain old routers any more. Instead they use the routers more sophisticated cousin, the Firewall, to do the same job.
