A switched virtual interface (SVI) is a VLAN of switch ports represented by one interface to a routing or bridging system. There is no physical interface for the VLAN and the SVI provides the Layer 3 processing for packets from all switch ports associated with the VLAN.

There is one-to-one mapping between a VLAN and SVI, thus only a single SVI can be mapped to a VLAN. By default, an SVI is created for the default VLAN (VLAN1) to permit remote switch administration. An SVI cannot be activated unless associated with a physical port.

SVIs are generally configured for a VLAN for the following reasons:

Allow traffic to be routed between VLANs by providing a default gateway for the VLAN.
Provide fallback bridging (if required for non-routable protocols).
Provide Layer 3 IP connectivity to the switch.
Support bridging configurations and routing protocol.
SVIs advantages include:

Much faster than router-on-a-stick, because everything is hardware-switched and routed.
No need for external links from the switch to the router for routing.
Not limited to one link. Layer 2 EtherChannels can be used between the switches to get more bandwidth.
Latency is much lower, because it does not need to leave the switch
An SVI can also be known as a Routed VLAN Interface (RVI) by some vendors.