If you are setting up a local area network (LAN), don’t get confused by the terms network hub and network switch. They refer to completely different devices. A hub allows all computers connected to the network to communicate with one another. A switch is a little smarter than a hub; it can direct traffic to specific devices.To put this into perspective, consider a network with four linked computers. In technical terminology, hubs work according to broadcast models, while switches operate by virtual circuit models. If two of those four computers talk to one another, the hub will simply pass all network traffic to each of the four computers. Switches can figure out which piece of information is going where, and so can pass data on to the specific computer the sender is trying to reach.Swit