Every router is not responsible for the fate of packets whizzing across the Internet. Routers are available various sizes and do more or less, depending on how big and sophisticated they are. For example:

In small office router that are used to connect to the Internet do more. They enforce rules about security for the office LAN, and they generally handle adequate traffic that they tend to be stand-alone devices.

The biggest routers handle lots of information—millions of packets each second. These are individual devices that look more like Maytag made them than a computer company.

Let us consider the medium-sized router—it is possibly something humming away in a small room at your business. This router only contains two networks to deal with—your LAN and the Internet. The office LAN connects to the router through an Ethernet connection. The router might also have two connections to your company’s ISP—a T3 and an ISDN connection. For the most part, your traffic comes and goes via the T3 line. However, the ISDN line is used in the event something goes crooked with the T3 line. In fact, the router is configured to send data across the ISDN line, because the configuration table has been programmed to switch over in case of an emergency.

This router is also tasked with a different function—it is a layer of security against outside attacks. Even though firewalls are routinely used to prevent attacks, the router is also configured to keep the bad people out.

However, the important part of the Internet uses the third kind of router we listed. Cisco’s Gigabit Switch Router 12000 Series of routers is the kind of equipment used to run the Internet. These routers are designed and construct like supercomputers. For example, the 12000 Series uses 200 MHz MIPS R5000 processors, which are the same type of processors used in the computers that make special effects for the movies.