A communications network that uses shared facilities to route data packets from and to different users. Unlike a circuit-switched network, a packet-switched network does not set up dedicated circuits for each session.
Type of network on which each packet contends with others for data transmission. The channel is occupied only for the duration of the packet. Routers are called packet switches when they move packets along a route to its destination. In contrast, a circuit-switched network system dedicates one circuit at a time to data transmission.
A fast network technology that allows packets to take different paths through the network to get to their destination.
A technique for routing data through a network by encapsulating the data in packets, labeling them with addresses and routing information (the packet header), and then routing the packets over various physical circuits (oftentimes different for each packet) until they reach their intended destination. Packets from the same source are not considered related to each other and thus each packet must make its own way through the network. A packet may not reach its intended destination due to network congestion and can be discarded. This network characteristic cannot guarantee quality of service, the lack of which the public IP network known as the Internet is famous.
Communication system that chops messages into small packets before sending them. All packets are addressed and coded so they can be recompiled at their destination. Each packet can follow its own path and therefore can work around problematic transmission segments.
A technique for routing data through a network by encapsulating the data in packets, labeling them with addresses and routing information (the packet header), and then routing the packets over various physical circuits (often times different for each packet) until they reach their intended destination. By breaking communication down into packets, packed-switched networks allow the same data path to be shared among many users in the network. Most traffic over the Internet uses packet switching.
The method used to move data around on the Internet . In packet switching, all the data coming out of a machine is broken up into chunks, each chunk has the address of where it came from and where it is going. This enables chunks of data from many different sources to co-mingle on the same lines, and be sorted and directed to different routes by special machines along the way. This way many people can use the same lines at the same time
Describes a network that sends data one packet at a time, rather then as a continuous stream.