SWITCH

A device that routes calls from their originating address to their destination address over public local or wide area networks. In the graphic arts, many prepress companies have installed switching hubs that direct traffic from one point to another, rather than polling all network addresses with the data. This significantly reduces local area network traffic. In phone companies' central offices, huge multi-million dollar switches from AT&T, Northern Telecom, Siemens, and other manufacturers route the millions of calls that pass through the telephone system each day.