Switching: It is the practice of directing a signal or data element toward a particular

hardware destination. Switching may be applied in various formats and can function in
diverse ways within a greater network infrastructure.

OR

It is the controlling or routing of signals in circuits to execute logical or arithmetic operations

or to transmit data between specific points in a network.

Note: Switching may be performed by electronic, optical, or electromechanical devices.

Packet Switching

By the late 1960s digital electronics developed well enough to be reliable and cheap enough
that digital packet switching became feasible. With modern technology, packet switching is
much cheaper than circuit switching. Even small-office phone switches are packet switches.

What is Packet Switching?

Packet switching makes the most out of the network bandwidth by breaking the message into
small units called data packets which seek the most efficient routing path to reach its
destination. Each data packet is assigned a header containing signalling information including
the sender and receiver address, and then transmitted individually through the network. Each
data packet may take a different route as addressed by its associated header. The data is
processed at all intermediate nodes located at various points before reaching its destination
where all the packets are reassembled and recompiled into the original message. It’s a more
robust and efficient method to transmit data that can withstand some delays during the
session. It’s mainly used for data and voice communication.

OR

Packet switching is a digital network transmission process in which data is broken into
suitably-sized pieces or blocks for fast and efficient transfer via different network devices.
When a computer attempts to send a file to another computer, the file is broken into packets
so that it can be sent across the network in the most efficient way. These packets are then
routed by network devices to the destination.

OR

Packet-switched describes the type of network in which relatively small units of data
called packets are routed through a network based on the destination address contained within
each packet. Breaking communication down into packets allows the same data path to be
shared among many users in the network. This type of communication between sender and
receiver is known as connectionless (rather than dedicated). Most traffic over the Internet
uses packet switching and the Internet is basically a connectionless network.

Packet switching is cheap. It allows very flexible and adaptable control over message flow. It
can maximise the circuit usage beyond what is possible with circuit switching. And
sometimes circuits aren’t there - modern mobile phones don’t have dedicated circuits. I will
just add that the big advantage of packet switching is economy: it lets you share a single
circuit (or network) among many connections, with many kinds of traffic: Voice, video, still
images, the typewritten word, binary data; anything that can be digitized, and absolutely
anything in a digital computer. A typical workplace with 1,000 people using a hundred or so
applications could all be supplied with one circuit, with perhaps a second one as a backup.

However, packet-switched networks can be overloaded by too much offered traffic and melt-
down. Even established connections can fail because of this. It is possible to design networks
where throughput is guaranteed (token-passing systems for example) but they have lower
capacity, lower available bandwidth and are more expensive compared to the usual CSMA
packet network topologies.

 Example of packet-switching: you switch on your PC and connect to your favourite

site that offers a number of applications you can download from, so you begin
downloading one application at a time. Each packet has to find its own route to the
destination, i.e., your computer. Each packet finds its way using the information it
 carries, such as the source and destination IP address. If network congestion occurs,
the routers responsible for routing packets between networks will automatically select
different paths to ensure data is transferred as required. This is an example of a
packet-switched network.

 For a packet-switched network, data is transferred by dividing the data into individual
packets and passing it through the circuits to the other host. In packet-switched
networks, the route is not exclusively determined when the packets hit the wire. Using
routing algorithms, each packet may actually take a different route through the
network to arrive at the destination host. Unlike a circuit-switched network where a
static route is setup and pre-established prior to initializing connections to the host.

There are two major modes of packet switching:

 Connectionless Packet Switching: Each packet contains complete addressing or

routing information and is routed individually. This can result in out-of-order delivery
and different paths of transmission, depending on the variable loads on different
network nodes (adapters, switches and routers) at any given time. Also known as
datagram switching.

In connectionless packet switching, each packet has the following information written
in its header section:
o The destination address

o The source address

o Total number of pieces

o The sequence number (Seq#) needed to enable reassembly

After reaching the destination through different routes, the packets are rearranged to
form the original message.

 Connection-Oriented Packet Switching: Data packets are sent sequentially over a

predefined route. Packets are assembled, given a sequence number and then
 transported over the network to a destination in order. In this mode, address
information is not required. Also known as virtual circuit switching.

A virtual circuit (VC) is a means of transporting data over a packet switched computer
network in such a way that it appears as though there is a dedicated or established physical
layer link or path between the source and destination end systems of this data and through
which all packets can be routed during the call. As there is no resource allocation other than
few space in circuit tables in case of virtual circuit and also the fact the packets does not have
to carry the globally unique destination address, provides great advantages for using virtual
circuit.

The term virtual circuit is synonymous with virtual connection and virtual channel. Before
a connection or virtual circuit may be used, it has to be established, between two or
more nodes or software applications, by configuring the relevant parts of the interconnecting
network. After that, a bit stream or byte stream may be delivered between the nodes; hence, a
virtual circuit protocol allows higher level protocols to avoid dealing with the division of data
into segments, packets, or frames.

Virtual circuit communication resembles circuit switching, since both are connection
oriented, meaning that in both cases data is delivered in correct order, and signalling
overhead is required during a connection establishment phase. However, circuit switching
provides a constant bit rate and latency, while these may vary in a virtual circuit service due
to factors such as:

 varying packet queue lengths in the network nodes,

 varying bit rate generated by the application,

 varying load from other users sharing the same network resources by means
of statistical multiplexing, etc.

Many virtual circuit protocols, but not all, provide reliable communication service through
the use of data retransmissions because of error detection and automatic repeat request
(ARQ).
Virtual circuit is a connection which is oriented unlike datagram switching. The source and
destination identifies a suitable path for virtual circuit before the actual data communication
starts. For this, it makes use of all intermediate nodes, routing table and other additional
parameters.

Once the data transmission is completed, the resources and values present for the virtual
circuit are removed completely. There are two categories of virtual circuit, namely switched
virtual circuit and permanent virtual circuit.

Switched virtual circuit is a virtual circuit in which the connection is dynamically established
based on the demand and is torn down completely once the transmission is complete.
Permanent virtual circuit is one provided for continuous usage or repeated usage between the
same data terminals.

Advantages of using a virtual circuit:

 Since the same direction is followed, the packets are delivered in proper order.
 As there is no need for packets to contain the complete address, the overhead in the
packets are comparatively smaller.

 As the resources are provided during the call setup, the connection is considered most
of the time reliable. If the call has been already setup, even during times of
congestion, the preceding packets should move along.

 Billing is more convenient and easy as the billing records can be generated as per call
and not as per packet.

Disadvantages of using a virtual circuit:

  Since each switch needs to allocate capacity for any generated traffic and also needs
to store the call details, powerful switching equipment is essential in virtual circuits.
 Difficulty exists when one considers the resilience provided to the loss of a trunks as a
failure results in calls being routed through a different route.

What is a circuit?

The circuit is the pathway through which the messages travel. It is typically a copper
wire, although fiber optic cable and wireless transmission are becoming more common.
There are many devices in the circuit that perform special functions such as hubs,
switches, routers, and gateways.

What is Circuit Switching?

Circuit switching is one of the switching technologies used to send messages from one point
to another using a dedicated point-to-point link throughout the session. They are mainly used
in PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) where the caller and receiver exchange
information on a dedicated channel using an end-to-end link. This is a connection oriented
channel which is established between the sender and the receiver using a dedicated signalling
protocol. When either of them disconnects the call, the circuit breaks thereby terminating the
session. In simple terms, the sender establishes a physical connection with the receiver along
a dedicated circuit to send data transmissions and when the data transfer completes, the
circuit is released. All data is transmitted along the same circuit throughout the session.

OR

Circuit switching is a method of implementing a telecommunications network in which

two network nodes establish a dedicated communications channel (circuit) through the
network before the nodes may communicate. The circuit guarantees the full bandwidth of
the channel and remains connected for the duration of the communication session. The
circuit functions as if the nodes were physically connected as with an electrical circuit.

 The defining example of a circuit-switched network is the early analog telephone

network. When a call is made from one telephone to another, switches within
the telephone exchanges create a continuous wire circuit between the two telephones,
 for as long as the call lasts. Example of circuit-switching: You pick up your land
phone and dial your friend. At that point, the telco provider creates a
dedicated circuit for that session and connects you to your friend's telephone. No
matter how long you keep the line open with your friend, the circuit will remain, and
packets flowing between both telephones will always follow the same path. This is an
example of a circuit-switched network.

 Circuit switching has some advantages. It is simple and easy to fault-trace. The
bandwidth is known and pre-allocated. Once the circuit is set-up there are no delays.
It can be more secure, especially if the set-up switching is out-of-band.

 The main disadvantage is cost - each connection requires a dedicated circuit. And
there are hard limits to capacity - no available circuit means connections won’t be
possible. Usage efficiency is low - much of the talk time is actually silent and there’s
no easy way to recover it.

Circuit switching contrasting with packet switching

 Packet switching divides the data to be transmitted into packets transmitted through
the network independently. In packet switching, instead of being dedicated to one
communication session at a time, network links are shared by packets from multiple
competing communication sessions, resulting in the loss of the quality of service
guarantees that are provided by circuit switching.

 In circuit switching, the bit delay is constant during a connection, as opposed to

packet switching, where packet queues may cause varying and potentially indefinitely
long packet transfer delays. No circuit can be degraded by competing users because it
is protected from use by other callers until the circuit is released and a new connection
is set up. Even if no actual communication is taking place, the channel remains
reserved and protected from competing users.

 Virtual circuit switching is a packet switching technology that emulates circuit

switching, in the sense that the connection is established before any packets are
transferred, and packets are delivered in order.
 While circuit switching is commonly used for connecting voice circuits, the concept
of a dedicated path persisting between two communicating parties or nodes can be
extended to signal content other than voice. The advantage of using circuit switching
is that it provides for continuous transfer without the overhead associated
with packets, making maximal use of available bandwidth for that communication.
One disadvantage is that it can be relatively inefficient, because unused capacity
guaranteed to a connection cannot be used by other connections on the same network.

 Switching is a method to forward data packets coming in from the sender to the
receiver at the destination address. Circuit switching and packet switching are the two
most popular methods of switching. In circuit switching, data is transferred on a
dedicated channel that is to be established between the sender and the receiver using a
dedicated point-to-point connection. In packet switching, data is split into small units
called packets with each packet being associated with a header containing signalling
information about the source and destination nodes. The packets are transmitted
independently and are processed at all intermediate nodes before reaching their
destination. At the destination, the data packets are extracted and reassembled to get
the original message.

 Approach in Circuit Switching and Packet Switching

– In circuit switching, an end-to-end circuit path is established between source and

destination using a dedicated signalling protocol. It is connection oriented, unlike
connectionless packet switched networks, which don’t follow an end-to-end approach.
In fact, each packet carries source and destination addresses in the header.

 Flexibility in Circuit Switching and Packet Switching

– In packet switching, data communication is split into small packets with each packet
carrying routing information and following different path of transmission to reach
their destination. Circuit switching, on the other hand, is not flexible as a dedicated
path is established which doesn’t change throughout the transmission.

 Routing Path of Circuit Switching and Packet Switching

 – In circuit switched networks, all data passes through the same circuit and each data
unit has sole access to a circuit and the entire routing path is provided at the source.
Whereas in packet switched networks, each data packet contains entire routing path
and is transmitted individually.

 Data Processing in Circuit Switching and Packet Switching

– In circuit switching, the transmission path is decided before the data processing
begins and the system decides on which path to follow. In packet switching, data is
split into small packets – each with an associated header – that are routed from source
to destination and are processed at all intermediate nodes.

 Application of Circuit Switching and Packet Switching

– Packet switching is the more efficient method when it comes to data transmission,
whereas circuit switching is a much better alternative for voice transmission. While the
former is implemented at physical layer, the latter is implemented at the network layer.

 Circuit Switching

 A physical path is established which is dedicated to a single connection between the two end points.

 Data transmission takes place after the circuit is established for the duration of the transmission.

 A dedicated routing path is followed throughout the transmission and no other user is allowed to use
the circuit.

 It follows a uniform path throughout the session.

 Data doesn’t carry the signalling information and moves on its own.

 It’s ideal for voice communication and the delay is uniform.

  It is connection oriented which is implemented at physical layer.

Summary of Circuit Switching and Packet Switching

While both packet switching and circuit switching are the two most common methods of
transferring data between two communication devices, both follow a different approach
for sending messages from one point to another. Circuit switching utilises a connection
oriented approach in which a network link is dedicated to one connection at a time and no
other user is allowed to use that circuit. On the contrary, packet switching divides the data
to be transmitted into small units called packets with no end to end reservation of network
links. They both use different technologies to transmit data from one point to another
thereby connecting multiple devices with each other. Each has its fair share of pros and
cons depending on what you’re trying to do.

Message Switching

Message switching is a network switching technique in which data is routed in its entirety
from the source node to the destination node, one hope at a time. During message routing,
every intermediate switch in the network stores the whole message. If the entire network's
resources are engaged or the network becomes blocked, the message-switched network stores
and delays the message until ample resources become available for effective transmission of
the message.

Before the advancements in packet switching, message switching acted as an efficient

substitute for circuit switching. It was initially employed in data communications such as
telex networks and paper tape relay systems. Message switching has largely been replaced by
packet switching, but the technique is still employed in ad hoc sensor networks, military
networks and satellite communications networks.

In message switching, the source and destination nodes are not directly connected. Instead,
the intermediary nodes (mainly switches) are responsible for transferring the message from
one node to the next. Thus, every intermediary node inside the network needs to store every
message prior to retransferring the messages one-by-one as adequate resources become
available. If the resources are not available, the messages are stored indefinitely. This
characteristic is known as store and forward.

Every message should include a header, which typically consists of routing information, such
as the source and destination, expiry time, priority level, etc.

Because message switching implements the store-and-forward technique, it efficiently uses

the network. Also, there is no size limit for the messages. However, this technique also has
several disadvantages:
 Because the messages are fully packaged and saved indefinitely at every intermediate
node, the nodes demand substantial storage capacity.
 Message-switched networks are very slow as the processing takes place in each and
every node, which may result in poor performance.

 This technique is not adequate for interactive and real-time processes, such as
multimedia games and voice communication.

It provides links on difference between Message switching and Packet switching.

Figure below depicts message switching operation, each router waits until it receives the
entire message. Once it receives the complete message it transmits the same over the next
link and so on. All the routers over the router does the same. It is used for message
transmission between two parties not requiring real time information sharing.
  Message switching overhead is lower compare to packet switching.
 Message switching has higher reliability and lower complexity. As in message
switching, one single datagram is either received or lost. One single network path is
used for the same.
 Message switching takes more time compared to packet switching as the entire
message will be stored at each of the hop points till it is completely received.

Benefits or advantages of Message switching

 As more devices share the same channel simultaneously for message transfer, it has
higher channel efficiency compare to circuit switching.
 In this type, messages are stored temporarily en-route and hence congestion can be
reduced to greater extent.
 It is possible to incorporate priorities to the messages as they use store and forward
technique for delivery.
 It supports message lengths of unlimited size.
 It does not require physical connection between source and destination devices unlike
circuit switching.
 Broadcasting of single message can be done to multiple receivers by appending
broadcast address to the message. This is being used by advertisement agencies for
transmission of ads to particular regions served by cell sites in the cities. This is also
used by government agencies to transmit warnings and other security related
messages to the people.
  Due to its storage mechanism, it is being used by police for criminal cases.

Drawbacks or disadvantages of Message switching

 This switching type is not compatible for interactive applications such as voice and
video. This is due to longer message delivery time.
 The method is costly as store and forward devices are expensive. This is due to large
storage disks requirements to store long messages for long duration.
 It can lead to security issues if hacked by intruders. Hence vital information such as
banking accounts, official and personal passwords should not be included in the
messages.
 As the system is complex, often people are not aware whether the messages are
transferred successfully or not. This may lead to complications in social relationships.
 Message switching type does not establish dedicated path between the devices. As
there is no direct link between sender and receiver, it is not reliable communication.