A widely used method for segmenting the areas in which switches are installed calls for three different classifications: access, distribution and core. Access switches provide aggregation of end nodes for connection to a distribution or core switch and are usually found in wiring closets. Distribution switches aggregate the links from access switches and possibly server farms. Distribution switches anchor the network in a building, or, for small networks, across a campus. Core switches provide the focal point of the local network, aggregating the distribution switches, providing connectivity for central site data centers, and providing connectivity in many cases to the external network.
Regardless of your network’s architecture — whether you have adopted ProCurve’s Adaptive EDGE architecture with its intelligence at the edge, or whether you use a traditional architecture that concentrates intelligence at the center of the network — you have a choice of wiring topologies to implement that architecture.
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