Abstract
- Serves as a central device that bridges up all the Host on a Local Area Network (LAN), forwards data packets among the hosts with the use of MAC Address
- Network switch can only read the MAC Address information from the data it receives, the other information is just a stream of meaningless zeros & ones to the network switch
- The network switch maintains a MAC Address Table, so it knows which switch port it should forward the data to, avoids forwarding the data to all the switch ports
Important
With the help of network switch, each host just needs to have one single connection to the network switch to communicate with other hosts connected to the network switch.
We just need to use one wire to add in a new host and it is able to communicate all other hosts without the need to make any modifications to other hosts.
FPGA-enabled Switches
- Usually used to deliver very high latency and throughput. One industry example is FPGA network switch is Arista 7130
Arista 7130's 3 features
MetaWatch (provides nanosecond-accurate timestamps for PCAPs)
- In HFT, microbursts or even a few nanoseconds of jitter can make or break trading strategies. MetaWatch allows firms to measure true wire-level latency, audit trading infrastructure, and prove regulatory compliance.
MetaMux (consolidates multiple network streams into a single feed with deterministic ordering)
- Market data often comes from multiple sources (exchanges, dark pools, brokers). Combining them with minimal added latency reduces switch port requirements, lowers infrastructure cost, and ensures trading systems always process a consistent, time-ordered view of the market.
MetaAccess (provides controlled, low-latency access to live traffic for monitoring, analytics, or compliance)
- Firms can observe market data and order flows in real time without interfering with production traffic. This separation helps maintain determinism in the critical trading path, while still enabling risk checks, surveillance, and post-trade analysis.