Consumer Electronics

PACKET SWITCHING AND MESSAGE SWITCHING

Despite the similarity to message switching operations, a packet switching network is different in two important respects :

1. The store-and-forward delay through a packet switched network is relatively short. Thus interactive communications can occur in much the same manner as if a dedicated end-to-end circuit is established.
2. A packet switched network does not provide storage of messages, except in an incidental manner while relaying packets from one node to another. The network is designed to provide switched communication between two nodes, both of which are actively involved in the communication process. A packet switching network does not normally store a message for later delivery to an inactive or busy ...