Oliullah

 Profile Answers by Oliullah 

• Jul 28th, 2007

 

The following Explaination will answer your question.

A Layer 3 switch is a high-performance device for network routing. Layer 3 switches actually differ very little from routers. A Layer 3 switch can support the same routing protocols as network routers do. Both inspect incoming packets and make dynamic routing decisions based on the source and destination addresses inside. Both types of boxes share a similar appearance.

Layer 3 switches were conceived as a technology to improve on the performance of routers used in large local area networks (LANs) like corporate intranets.

The key difference between Layer 3 switches and routers lies in the hardware technology used to build the unit.The hardware inside a Layer 3 switch merges that of traditional switches and routers, replacing some of a router's software logic with hardware to offer better performance in some situations.
 

Layer 3 switches designed for use within local networks, a Layer 3 switch will typically not possess the WAN ports and wide area network features a traditional router will always have.