In the world of industrial networking, there are a variety of devices that can be used to connect different types of networks, manage traffic and facilitate communication between devices. Some common examples include bridges, switches and gateways. While these devices are described here as Ethernet-based utilities, they can also apply to other, non-ethernet applications as well, such as USB or Serial. While the terms bridges, gateways and switches are often used interchangeably, they each describe devices with distinct functions.

• A bridge is a device that connects two or more network segments together and allows them to communicate with each other. Bridges typically help to reduce network traffic by only forwarding packets to the segments that need them. They do this by examining the destination address of each packet and forwarding it only to the appropriate segment. This helps to reduce the amount of unnecessary traffic on the network, which can improve performance and reduce congestion. There are several types of bridges used in industrial automation, including these.

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