Improved performance isn't the only thing you get when you build a switch-based network. You also get a number of new features you may not have been expecting.

Even as the price of switches has dropped dramatically, manufacturers have continued to add an impressive array of features, all designed to make networks more responsive to business needs. New kinds of semiconductor technology enables them to build more processing power into local-area network (LAN) switches, which in turn provides more intelligence and adds capacity and power without affecting performance or sacrificing the traditional simplicity of the LAN switch.

Today, switches offer everything from inline power (to enable companies to deploy wireless and IP telephony anywhere in a building without worrying about power outlets) to configuration wizards that save network administrators time and trouble optimizing their networks for different applications.

Here are just some of the benefits — beyond speed and efficiency — that switches can deliver.

1. High availability

With companies running more and more of their applications and communications over data networks, high network availability has become crucial. Switch features like IP routing and load balancing work in combination to keep information flowing. Multicast management is another feature to improve delivery of high-bandwidth group applications such as videoconferencing and e-learning.

2. Enhanced security

Adding users, deploying new services, extending Internet access, and providing remote access can all increase the potential risk to networks and data, both internally and externally. The security features in your switch — the three key areas of authentication, authorization and accounting — should offer the protection and control needed to prevent both malicious acts and inadvertent mishaps.

Security features include access control lists (ACLs), hardware-based filtering, port security, 802.1x, multilevel console security, protected port, and secure shell (SSH) protocol. Some of these features, such as hardware-based filtering and protected port, are also useful for improving performance.

3. Quality of Service

Businesses today are adding computing power to the desktop, introducing more bandwidth-intensive applications and adding more device types, such as IP phones and wireless LAN access points. Real-time applications such IP telephony require priority across the network in order to perform properly.

To get the most out of available bandwidth, networks need the ability to prioritize and manage traffic flows at the application level. Switches with built-in Quality of Service features enable the switches to classify, mark, or drop incoming packets. Packet classification allows the network to discriminate between various traffic flows and enforce policies based on information contained in data packets.