A Layer 1 switch, also known as a physical layer switch or a crosspoint switch, operates at Layer 1 of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. Our switches use specialized hardware that enables you to cable the equipment in your test lab only once and then use software to create or modify connections between equipment as needed for test sets. Layer 1 switches move data from one port to another between devices with minimal delay and no modification, creating secure network connections.

Why use a Layer 1 switch vs a Layer 2 switch? A Layer 1 switch emulates a circuit between two ports as if those ports were physically wired or connected to each other. The Layer 1 switch guarantees that traffic is delivered between those ports and is unchanged by the switch. A Layer 2 switch needs to analyze each packet and make routing decisions based on the packet’s destination MAC address and learned MAC address tables. This adds complexity to test labs where the network topology is constantly changing. If a frame error is discovered, a Layer 2 switch will drop the errored frame because it does not know what to do with it. Conversely, a Layer 1 switch does not examine the frames and therefore will pass errored frames to the correct destination because it does not rely on routing protocols.

Secure network connections with Velocity Series switches