SWITCHING TECHNIQUES

WHAT IS A NETWORK?

• TANENBAUM DEFINES A NETWORK AS ‘ AN

INTERCONNECTED COLLECTION OF
AUTONOMOUS COMPUTERS’.
• THE PRIMARY PURPOSE IS TO SHARE DATA AND
INFORMATION.
 SWITCHING TECHNIQUES

• SWITCHING TECHNIQUES ARE USED FOR DATA

TRANSMISSION ACROSS NETWORKS.

• THEY ARE OF DIFFERENT TYPES – CIRCUIT SWITCHING ,

MESSAGE SWITCHING AND PACKET SWITCHING.
 CIRCUIT SWITCHING
• IN THIS TECHNIQUE A COMPLETE PHYSICAL
CONNECTION BETWEEN TWO COMPUTERS IS
ESTABLISHED AND ONLY THEN CAN THE DATA BE
SENT.
• EG. A TELEPHONE CALL.
MESSAGE SWITCHING
 PACKET SWITCHING

• HERE, A TIGHT UPPER LIMIT ON BLOCK SIZE IS

PLACED, UNLIKE MESSSAGE SWITCHING.
• THE DATA PACKETS ARE STORED IN THE MAIN
MEMORY AND NOT ON THE DISK, LIKE MESSAGE
SWITCHING.
• THUS, ACCESS TIME IS REDUCED AND
THROUGHPUT IS IMPROVED.
THANK YOU