ALSO CALLED: Fast Packet Switching DEFINITION: A packet is the unit of data that is routed between an origin and a destination on the Internet or any other packet-switched network. When any file (e-mail message, HTML file, Graphics Interchange Format file, Uniform Resource Locator request, and
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Advances in optical networking are offering service providers the opportunity to re-engineer their core networks over the next several years.
PACKET SWITCHING DEFINITION (continued): … so forth) is sent from one place to another on the Internet, the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) layer of TCP/IP divides the file into "chunks" of an efficient size for routing. Each of these packets is separately numbered and includes the Internet address of the destination. The individual packets for a given file may travel different routes through the Internet. When they have all arrived, they are reassembled into the original file (by the TCP layer … Packet Switching definition sponsored by SearchNetworking.com, powered by WhatIs.com an online computer dictionary
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