• Hardware connectivity devices, such as hub, bridge, data
switches, and routers, and hardware or software
gateways are at the heart of this process. These devices
and software are used to connect nodes on the same
network, to connect across multiple networks, and to
forward packets between nodes.
• Large modern networks often are broken up into
segments, or multiple groups of computers that share a
common function.
– For example, on a business LAN, the marketing department
computers might be on one segment and the sales department
computers might be on another segment.
• Most large networks use a combination of network
hardware and software to help move packets efficiently
and quickly to their destinations.