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.