All tables are partitioned from a database storage engine perspective since SQL Server 2005, although multiple partitions require Enterprise Edition. The implication of this storage architecture is that one can use ALTER TABLE…SWITCH regardless of SQL Server edition to move the entire contents of one table to another without physically moving rows as long as the source and target tables have an identical schema and are physically aligned (indexes and tables on same filegroup). SWITCH performs fast storage meta-data changes so the operation typically takes less than a second regardless of table size. The target table must be empty before SWITCH. After SWITCH, the target table will contain the data and the source table will be empty (similar to TRUNCATE).
Since the identical schema restriction does not include the IDENTITY column property, SWITCH is a handy technique to add or remove IDENTITY from an existing column of a non-empty table. For an empty table, a simple drop and create is easier and more efficient.
This is one of the few really good uses of the SWITCH operator in standard edition, but if ever you do need it, you’ll be glad it’s there.