|  | 1.1 | LAN Switching
| 1.1.1 | Congestion and b andwidth

Technology advances are producing faster and more intelligent desktop computers and workstations. The combination of more powerful computers/workstations and network intensive applications have created a need for network capacity or bandwidth that is much greater than the 10 Mbps that is available on standard shared Ethernet/802.3 LANs. Today's networks are experiencing an increase in the transmission of large graphic files, images, full-motion video and multimedia applications as well as an increase in the number of users on a network. All of these factors place an even greater strain on standard Ethernet 10Mbps bandwidth capacity. As more people utilize a network to share large files, access file servers and connect to the Internet, network congestion occurs. This can be seen in slower response times, longer file transfers and network users becoming less productive due to network delays. To relieve network congestion, more bandwidth is needed or the available bandwidth must be used more efficiently.
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