Short for port-switching hub, a special type of hub that

forwards packets to the appropriate port based on the

packet's address. Conventional hubs simply rebroadcast

every packet to every port. Since switching hubs forward

each packet only to the required port, they provide much

better performance. Most switching hubs also support load

balancing, so that ports are dynamically reassigned to

different LAN segments based on traffic patterns.

Some newer switching hubs support both traditional Ethernet

(10 Mbps) and Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) ports. This enables

the administrator to establish a dedicated, Fast Ethernet

channel for high-traffic devices such as servers.