What is exchange

Exchange is a general term for the technology of sending the information to the corresponding routing that meets the requirements by manually or automatically completing the method according to the needs of information transmission at both ends of communication

Manual exchange

To enable everyone with a phone to communicate with each other, we cannot connect a single line between every two phones. So people established telephone bureaus, and each telephone user connected a line to a large circuit board in the bureau. When A wants to talk to B, he requests the operator at the telephone office to connect with B's phone. The operator uses a wire, with one end inserted into the hole where A connects to the circuit board and the other end inserted into the hole where B connects. This is called "connection", which is equivalent to temporarily pulling a phone line for A and B, and then both parties can talk. After the call is completed, the operator removes the wires, which is called 'disconnecting'. The entire process is a "manual exchange", which is actually a process of "closing the switch" and "disconnecting the switch". Therefore, translating 'exchange' as' switch 'is easier for people to understand

What is a switch

A switch, which means "switch", is a network device used for forwarding electrical (optical) signals. It can provide exclusive electrical signal paths for any two network nodes accessing the switch. The most common switch is an Ethernet switch