Layer 3 Switching
The major difference between the packet switching operation of a router and that of a Layer 3 switch is the physical implementation. In general-purpose routers, packet switching takes place using software that runs on a microprocessor, whereas a Layer 3 switch performs this using dedicated application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) hardware.
Read more about this topic: Multilayer Switch
Famous quotes containing the word layer:
“The writer in me can look as far as an African-American woman and stop. Often that writer looks through the African-American woman. Race is a layer of being, but not a culmination.”
—Thylias Moss, African American poet. As quoted in the Wall Street Journal (May 12, 1994)