Switches are very similar to bridges as they both resides at layer 2
or the data link layer of the OSI model.
The big advantage of switching when compared to bridging is that processing
can be done in hardware using what are called ASICs
or Application Specific Integrated Circuits.
The number of ports supported by switches is also a lot higher
hundreds of ports are supported on certain switches.
Whereas with bridges you were limited to a few ports.
Switches are able to do this because processing is done in hardware and in actual fact
these days processing is done at wire speed which means that there is no degradation of
performance between 2 devices when they are connected via a switch in other words
switches can move traffic from one port to another port at the same speed
as if they went there, they can process and switch frames from one port to another port
without slowing the frame down.
So here’s a quick comparison between switches and bridges
Switches processed in hardware using ASICs.
Bridges process in software and are therefore a lot slower
switches support many ports, bridges are limited in the number of ports
that they support, bridges have been replaced by switches in today’s network.