Lesson Seven

Switched Communication Networks

Specific Objectives
By the end of the lesson the learner should be able to:
(i) Define switching
(ii) Distinguish between circuit switching and packet switching
(iii)Distinguish between Frame Relay, ATM and X. 25
(iv) Distinguish between ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network and Multi-
Purpose Label Switching

Switched communication Networks

A communication network consists of a network of nodes connected by point to point

links. Data are transmitted from source to destination through intermediate nodes. The
connections are usually made through a telephone company eg Telkom Kenya

The switching devices are

 Data Terminal Equipment DTE

 Data Circuit terminating Equipment DCE

Data switching techniques

Information passes through multi paths as it moves from the source to the destination
in a large network. The information is switched as it travels through various
communication channels using

 Circuit Switching-Connection Oriented

 Message Switching- Connectionless –Oriented
 Packet switching- Connectionless Oriented

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Circuit switching

It’s a technique that connects the sender and the receiver by a single path for the whole
duration of message passing. In the case of a conversation, once a connection is
established, a dedicated path is established between both ends. It always consumes
network capacity even if there is no active transmission taking place.

Circuit switching includes phone systems and data that need to be transmitted live like
sports and speeches

In telecommunications, a circuit switching network is one that establishes a fixed

bandwidth circuit (or channel) between nodes and terminals before the users may
communicate, as if the nodes were physically connected with an electrical circuit. The
bit delay is constant during the connection, as opposed to packet switching, where
packet queues may cause varying delay.

Packet switching

The desire is to have speedy, flexible, robust, responsive optimized channel capacity at
a fair price.

Packet switching is a communications method in which packets are routed between

nodes over data links shared with other traffic. In each network node, packets are
queued or buffered, resulting in variable delay. This contrasts with the other principal
paradigm, circuit switching, which sets up a limited number of constant bit rate and
constant delay connections between nodes for their exclusive use for the duration of the
communication.

Packet mode or packet-oriented communication may be utilized with or without a

packet switch, in the latter case directly between two hosts. Examples of that are point-
to-point data links, digital video and audio broadcasting or a shared physical medium,
such as a bus network, ring network, or hub network.

(A) Circuit switching

Is a type of communications in which a dedicated channel (or circuit) is established for
the duration of a transmission. It can be referred to as a methodology 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.
A good example of the circuit-switching network is used for connecting voice circuits
like the telephone system, which links together wire segments to create a single
unbroken line for each telephone call.

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Circuit-switching systems are ideal for communications that require data to be
transmitted in real-time and are sometimes called connection-oriented networks

Established switch

Switch Mombasa

Fig 7.1 Circuit Switching

The circuit is established and maintained for the entire duration of the communication.
Two techniques are used for the implementation of a circuit in a link.
1. Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
2. Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM).
Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM):
The connections established across the link shares the frequency band of a link among
themselves. Specifically, a frequency band is dedicated by the link to each connection
for the duration of the connection.
Time division multiplexing:
Using a TDM link, time is divided into frames of fixed duration and each frame is
divided into a fixed number of time slots. Whenever the network wants to establish a
connection across a link, one time slot in every frame is reserved for the connection.
B Message Switching.
Circuit switching is the most appropriate technique for continuous transmission of data
between source and destination. However, there are some drawbacks as listed below:

 Source and destination must be available at the time of data transfer.

 Nodes and links must be available in advance before the start of transmission and
dedicated
 The channel should be available until the data transfer is completed.

When the source station does not have enough data to transmit continuously, resources
are unnecessarily kept idle for the duration of time when there is no transfer of data. To
avoid such situations, a different switching method called message switching is used. In
this switching method, no dedicated physical path is established in advance. Instead, it
is based on a technique called store and forward switching. When the source station has
a message block to send, it is stored in the first switching node. Each node in the network
is an electronic switching device.

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Nodes are equipped with enough buffers memory to hold the incoming message. As
soon as a free channel is seized, the first node sends a copy of the stored message to the
next node on the path through the communication channel, just seized. At each hop, the
message is examined for errors. The message hops from one node to another node until
it reaches the destination.
• A message is a logical unit of information and can be of any length.
• In message switching, if a station wishes to send a message to another station, it first
adds the destination address to the message.
• Each message is treated as an independent unit.
• In message switching, each complete message is then transmitted from device to
device through the internetwork i.e. message is transmitted from the source node to
intermediate node.
• The intermediate node stores the complete message temporarily, inspects it for errors
and transmits the message to the next node based on an available free channel and its
routing information Because of this reason message switched networks are called store
and forward network as shown in fig 8.2
• The actual path taken by the message to its destination is dynamic as the path is
established as it travels along.
• When the message reaches a node, the channel on which it came is released for use by
another message.
• As shown in Figure 8.2 message Ml is transmitted from A to H and M2 is transmitted
A to G. Message Ml follows the route A –> B –> D –> F –> G and M2 follows the route
A–> B –> C–> F–> G depending on the availability of free path at that particular moment.
• The first electromechanical telecommunication system used message switching for
telegrams. The message was punched on paper tape off-line at the sending office and
then read in and transmitted over a communication line to the next office along the way,
where it was punched out on paper tape. An operator there tore the tape off and read it
in on tape readers.

Fig 8.2 Message Switching

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Advantages of Message Switching.
The various advantages of message switching are:
• Efficiency is improved by sharing a single channel by many messages.
• Source and destination stations are not simultaneously required to be ready. The
network can store the message in case the receiver is not ready.
• Message switching systems can transmit single message to several destinations;
however, in circuit switching this facility is not permitted.
• Message transfer is possible even when the transfer rates of the source and
destinations differ circuit switching does not support this feature.
• Storing or re-routing the message may be used to restore it from node or link failure
occurring during data transfer.
The primary drawback of message switching is that it is not suitable for real time or
interactive traffic. It is not suitable for voice transmission.
Disadvantages of Message Switching.
The various disadvantages of message switching are:
1. As message length is unlimited, each switching node must have sufficient storage to
buffer message.
2. Storing & forwarding facility introduces delay thus making message switching
unsuitable for real time applications like voice and video.
Delay in Message Switching.
• A message switched network consists of store-and-forward switches interconnected
by trunks. A single trunk is usually sufficient between a pair of switches.
• Multiple trunks can be provided to increase reliability. Each switch is equipped with
a storage device wherein all incoming messages are temporarily stored for onward
transmission.

Fig 7.3 Message Switched Data Network

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• The basic operation of the store-and-forward service is similar to the telegram service.
A message along with the destination address is sent from switch to switch till it reaches
endpoint.

• Let us say end system A wants to send a message to end system B as shown in Fig. 7.3
sends its message along with the address of the destination and its own address to entry
switch 1. The addresses are included in the header of the message.
• Switch 1 accepts the message and analyzes the destination address. A routing table is
maintained at each node.
• It contains entries indicating destination nodes and the corresponding outgoing trunks
from the switch. There is a separate queue for each trunk.
• Since the destination node may be accessible via more than one route, decision to send
the message to a particular next switch depends on the expected delay in its queue. Let
us say, the message from A is put in the queue for node 2.
• The message received at switch 2 is again put in a queue of messages awaiting
transmission to switch 4. When its turn comes, the message is sent to switch 4 which
delivers it to the destination.
• Some of the basic features of store- and-forward message switching are:
• The store-and-forward service is unidirectional. After delivery of the message, the
network does not send back any confirmation to the source. If end system B is required
to send an acknowledgement to the message received from A, the acknowledgement is
treated like any other message by the network and carries the addresses of the
destination and the source.
• For switch -to- switch transfer of the message, the network may employ some error
control mechanism. The message may be appended with error-checking bits and if any
error is detected by the receiving switch, it may request the sending switch for
retransmission of the message. Therefore, the sending switch is required to keep a copy
of the message till an acknowledgement is received.
• Since the message is stored in a buffer at the switch at each stage of transmission, each
switch-to-switch transfer is an independent operation. The trunks can operate at
different data rates. Even the source and destination end systems can operate at different
data rates.
• In message switching every message is treated as an independent entity by the
network and, therefore, destination and source addresses are repeated on each message.
• Delay in Delivery. Fig 8.4 shows the timing diagram for routing a message through a
message switched network. The message passes through the entry switch, two transit
switches and finally through the exit switch to arrive at the destination.

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Fig 8.4 End to End Delay in Message Delivery
Message delivery time is the sum of the following components:
• Time required sending the message to the entry switch
• Switch delay
• Transmission time at each switch.
• The time required to send a message to the entry switch is determined by the
transmission data rate and the message size.
• Propagation time to the entry switch is usually negligible. Switch delay is due to two
factors:
1. Message processing at each switch (time required for error checking, routing etc.)
2. Waiting time in the queues at each switch.
• The transmission time at each switch is determined by the transmission data rate and
propagation p time for transmission across the trunk.
• The total time required to deliver the message is the linear sum of all these components
of time as they occur in a sequential manner.
• The delivery time varies from message to message because of random waiting times
in queues and alternate routes between the same pair of entry and exit switches.
• Therefore, time relationship of the messages and their sequence are not guaranteed in
a message switched network.
• As traffic increases there is increase in message delivery time; because the queues get
longer and there may be congestion on the route.

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 C. Packet switching
It is a digital networking communications method that groups all transmitted data,
regardless of content, type, or structure into suitably sized blocks, called packets and
sends each packet individually. These packets are sent out from the computer and
they travel around the network seeking out the most efficient route to travel as
circuits become available. This does not necessarily mean that they seek out the
shortest route.Each packet may go a different route, its header address tells it where to
go and describes the sequence for reassembly at the destination computer, so that the
packets are put back into the correct order. One packet also contains details of how
many packets should be arriving so that the recipient computer knows if one packet
has failed to turn up. A packet is handed over from node to node across the network.
Each receiving node temporarily stores the packet, until the next node is ready to
receive it, and then passes it onto the next node. This technique is called store-and-
forward. When received, packets are reassembled in the proper sequence to make up
the message. If a packet fails to arrive, the recipient computer sends a message back to
the computer which originally sent the data, asking for the missing packet to be
resent.
Circuit-switched networks require dedicated point-to-point connections during calls.
Packet switching features delivery of variable-bit-rate data streams over a shared
network. The Internet is a good example of packet-switching technique where it uses
the, TCP/IP. Packet-switching networks are more efficient if some amount of delay is
acceptable

Mombasa

Kisumu

Nakuru Kericho
Packet 1
Packet 2
Packet 3
Fig 8.5 Packet Switching
Two major packet switching modes;
Connectionless packet switching / datagram switching
Each packet includes complete addressing or routing information. The packets are
routed individually, sometimes resulting in different paths and out-of-order delivery,

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Connection-oriented packet switching / virtual circuit switching.
A connection is defined and pre allocated in each involved node during a connection
phase before any packet is transferred. The packets include a connection identifier
rather than address information, and are delivered in order.

(i) X.25 Packet Switched networks allow remote devices to communicate with
each other over private digital links without the expense of individual leased
lines. Packet Switching is a technique whereby the network routes individual
packets of HDLC data between different destinations based on addressing
within each packet. An X.25 network consists of a network of interconnected
nodes to which user equipment can connect. The user end of the network is
known as Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) and the carrier’s equipment is
Data Circuit-terminating Equipment (DCE) . X.25 routes packets across the
network from DTE to DTE.

Fig 7.6 X.25 Network

The protocol known as X.25 was developed by the organization now known as the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and encompasses the first three layers
of the OSI 7-layered architecture as defined by the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) as follows:

 Layer 1: the Physical Layer is concerned with electrical or signaling. It includes

several electrical standards including V.35 , RS232 and X.21.
 Layer 2: the Data Link Layer, which is an implementation of the ISO HDLC
standard called Link Access Procedure Balanced (LAPB) and provides an error
free link between any two physically connected nodes. The Data Link Layer is
responsible for error-free communication between any two nodes. Thus errors
are checked and corrected for each hop all the way across the network. It is this
feature that makes X.25 so robust, and so suitable for noisy, error-prone links.
The downside is the latency forced on the system, because each frame has to be
received in its entirety and checked before it can be forwarded to the next node.
It is not unusual to have latencies of over half a second across X.25 networks. The
larger the packet size and the lower the line speed the longer the latency period.

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 Thus X.25 packets tend to be short – 128 0r 256 bytes as opposed to 1500 bytes or
more for more modern protocols. Modern protocols like Frame Relay or ATM
take advantage of the low error rates of digital lines to avoid the latency
problems of hop-to-hop error correction. They have no error correction and only
rudimentary flow control, relying on higher-level protocols like TCP/IP to
provide end-to-end error correction and flow control.
 Layer 3: The Network Layer that governs the end-to-end communications
between the different DTE devices. Layer 3 is concerned with connection set-up
and teardown and flow control between the DTE devices, as well as network
routing functions and the multiplexing of simultaneous logical connections over
a single physical connection.

X.25 permits a DTE user on an X.25 network to communicate with a number of remote
DTE’s simultaneously. Connections occur on logical channels of two types:

 Switched virtual circuits (SVC‘s) – SVC’s are very much like telephone calls; a
connection is established, data are transferred and then the connection is
released. Each DTE on the network is given a unique DTE address which can be
used much like a telephone number.
 Permanent virtual circuits (PVC‘s) – a PVC is similar to a leased line in that the
connection is always present. The logical connection is established permanently
by the Packet Switched Network administration. Therefore, data may always be
sent, without any call setup.

To establish a connection on an SVC, the calling DTE sends a Call Request Packet,
which includes the address of the remote DTE to be contacted.

The destination DTE decides whether or not to accept the call (the Call Request packet
includes the sender’s DTE address, as well as other information that the called DTE can
use to decide whether or not to accept the call). A call is accepted by issuing a Call
Accepted packet, or cleared by issuing a Clear Request packet.

Once the originating DTE receives the Call Accepted packet, the virtual circuit is
established and data transfer may take place. When either DTE wishes to terminate the
call, a Clear Request packet is sent to the remote DTE, which responds with a Clear
Confirmation packet.

The destination for each packet is identified by means of the Logical Channel Identifier
(LCI) or Logical Channel Number (LCN). This allows the PSN to route the each packet
to its intended DTE.

X.25 relies on the underlying robustness of HDLC LAPB to get data from node to node
through the X.25 network. An X.25 packet makes up the data field of an HDLC frame.
Additional flow control and windowing are provided for each Logical Channel at the
X.25 level.

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 (ii) ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a new network technology designed for
“integrated services” networks capable of carrying multimedia data as well as
conventional computer data traffic. ATM is a connection-oriented service that transfers
small, fixed-sized packets called cells through a switch-based network. Although it
makes no promises of reliable delivery, cells that are actually delivered are guaranteed
to be in-order. The cell used with ATM is relatively small compared to units used with
older technologies. The small, constant cell size allows ATM equipment to
transmit video, audio, and computer data over the same network, and assure that no
single type of data hogs the line. The system architecture makes use of switches that
set up logical circuits at both ends of the data stream, which ensures unprecedented
quality of service
ATM is a switch-based network, with point-to-point links between switches. By
contrast, many popular LANs such as Ethernet are multiple-access, shared-media
networks. It is connection-oriented (as opposed to datagram-based). There is some
signaling protocol capable of setting up virtual circuits and (if necessary) performing
the necessary admission control tests.
ATM can support performance guarantees. We do assume a well-defined interface.
Our network uses different versions of Rate-Controlled Static Priority Queueing
(RCSP) as scheduling mechanisms (along with appropriate admission control tests) to
provide performance guarantees
.
Application
Higher layer protocols

Signaling
ATM Adaptation layer Signaling ATM adaptation layer
1-5 Asynchronous adaptation layer (ATM)
SONET DS-3 Other physical layers

Fig 7.7 ATM Frame

ATM has a high bandwidth, high speed medium for normal operation such as optical
fiber networks and low delay, cell relay technology for switching and multiplexing and
a faster processing and switch speeds are possible. It allows variety of different
applications and services eg video, data, voice etc to be supported on a single network
and is connection-oriented. An ATM endpoint establishes a defined path known as a
virtual channel (VC), also called virtual circuit, to the destination endpoint prior to
sending any data on the network. Asynchronous Transfer Mode divides information in
to blocks called cells which are fixed in size.
ATM is otherwise an unreliable transmission protocol because it does not acknowledge
the receipt of cells sent.

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 (iii) Frame-Relay
Frame relay is a telecommunication service designed for cost-efficient data
transmission for intermittent traffic between local area networks (LANs ) and between
end-points in a wide area network (WAN). Frame relay puts data in a variable-size
unit called a frame and leaves any necessary error correction (retransmission of data)
up to the end-points, which speeds up overall data transmission. For most services, the
network provides a permanent virtual circuit (PVC ), which means that the customer
sees a continuous, dedicated connection without having to pay for a full-time leased
line, while the service provider figures out the route each frame travels to its
destination and can charge based on usage.
Frame relay is based on the older X.25 packet-switching technology which was
designed for transmitting analogue data such as voice conversations. It is a fast packet
technology , which means that the protocol does not attempt to correct errors.
Frame relay is often used to connect local area networks with major backbones and
wide area networks. It's not ideally suited for voice or video transmission,
Frame relay header structure.

Flag Frame relay header Information FCS Flag

DLCI C/R EA DLCI FECN BECN DE EA

876543 2 1 8765 4 3 2 1

Fig 7.8 Frame Relay header structure

DLCI - 10-bit DLCI field represents the address of the frame and corresponds to a PVC.
C/R - Designates whether the frame is a command or response.
EA - Extended Address field signifies up to two additional bytes in the Frame Relay
header, thus greatly expanding the number of possible addresses.
FECN - Forward Explicit Congestion Notification.
BECN - Backward Explicit Congestion Notification.
DE - Discard Eligibility.
Information - The Information field may include other protocols within it, such as an
X.25, IP or SDLC (SNA) packet.

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 (iv) ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)

Fig 7.9 ISDN Network

This is a set of standards for digital transmission over ordinary telephone copper wire
as well as over other media. Installations of an ISDN adapter, in place of a
telephone modem receive allow Web pages at up to 128 Kbps compared with the
maximum 56 Kbps rate of a modem connection. ISDN requires adapters at both ends
of the transmission so your access provider also needs an ISDN adapter.
ISDN in concept is the integration of both analog or voice data together with digital
data over the same network Broadband ISDN is intended to extend the integration of
both services throughout the rest of the end-to-end path using fiber optic and radio
media. Broadband ISDN encompasses frame relay service for high-speed data that can
be sent in large bursts, the Fiber Distributed-Data Interface (FDDI ), and the
Synchronous Optical Network (SONET ).
The three most important ingredients of ISDN are circuit switching, packet switching,
and common channel signalling.
ISDN provides a fully integrated digital network for voice and data communication
and
it supports both circuit and packet switching.
INTERNET
HUB ROUTER

ISDN bridge line

FREE BSD BOX

NOVELLE SERVER WINDOWS 95 SUN WORKSTATION

7.10 B-ISDN is broad band ISDN

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 (v) MPLS (Multi-Purpose Label Switching)
Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a switching technology that regulates data
traffic and packet forwarding in a complex network. It is a connection-oriented
methodology that traverses packets from source to destination node across networks for
fast packet transmission. It encompasses packets in different network protocols which
ensure end-to-end circuits over any type of transport medium using any network layer
protocol.
The core technology intents to remove protocol-dependency on specific data link layer
technologies such as ATM, Frame Relay, Ethernet, and Synchronous Optical Network
(SONET).
MPLS overcomes ATM setbacks with less overhead and connection-oriented services
for frames with varying length. This maintains traffic engineering and out-of-band
control, thus Frame Relay and ATM are less in need for installing large-scale networks,
as MPLS performance is far superior to previous ones.
MPLS does the assignment of a particular packet to a particular FEC once, as the
packet enters the network. The FEC to which the packet is assigned is encoded as a
label. When a packet is forwarded to its next hop, the label is sent along with it. The
label is then used as an index into a table which specifies the next hop, and a new
label. The old label is replaced with the new label, and the packet is forwarded to its
next hop.
MPLS can speed up the flow of network traffic and make it easier to manage. It is
flexible, fast, cost-efficient and allows for network segmentation and quality of service.
MPLS also offers a better way of transporting latency-sensitive applications like voice
and video.

DPLL P1
Synthesizer

P0
Synthesizer

SONET / SDH
Software PLL control Ethernet APLL

Feedback
Synthesizer

7.11 Block diagram of an MPSL PC/SPI JTAG

Switching is process to forward packets coming in from one port to a port leading
towards the destination. When data comes on a port it is called ingress, and when data
leaves a port or goes out it is called egress.

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A communication system may include number of switches and nodes. At broad level,
switching can be divided into two major categories:
 Connectionless: The data is forwarded on behalf of forwarding tables. No
previous handshaking is required and acknowledgements are optional.
 Connection Oriented: Before switching data to be forwarded to destination,
there is a need to pre-establish circuit along the path between both endpoints.
Data is then forwarded on that circuit. After the transfer is completed, circuits can
be kept for future use or can be turned down immediately.
Summary

Circuit Switching
When two nodes communicate with each other over a dedicated communication path,
it is called circuit switching. There 'is a need of pre-specified route from which data will
travels and no other data is permitted. In circuit switching, to transfer the data, circuit
must be established so that the data transfer can take place.
Circuits can be permanent or temporary. Applications which use circuit switching may
have to go through three phases:
 Establish a circuit
 Transfer the data
 Disconnect the circuit

Fig 7.12 Circuit Switching

Circuit switching was designed for voice applications. Telephone is the best suitable
example of circuit switching. Before a user can make a call, a virtual path between caller
and callee is established over the network.

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Message Switching
This technique was somewhere in middle of circuit switching and packet switching. In
message switching, the whole message is treated as a data unit and is switching /
transferred in its entirety.
A switch working on message switching, first receives the whole message and buffers it
until there are resources available to transfer it to the next hop. If the next hop is not
having enough resource to accommodate large size message, the message is stored and
switch waits.

Fig 7.13 Message Switching.

This technique was considered substitute to circuit switching. As in circuit switching the
whole path is blocked for two entities only. Message switching is replaced by packet
switching. Message switching has the following drawbacks:
 Every switch in transit path needs enough storage to accommodate entire
message.
 Because of store-and-forward technique and waits included until resources are
available, message switching is very slow.
 Message switching was not a solution for streaming media and real-time
applications.

Packet Switching
Shortcomings of message switching gave birth to an idea of packet switching. The entire
message is broken down into smaller chunks called packets. The switching information
is added in the header of each packet and transmitted independently.
It is easier for intermediate networking devices to store small size packets and they do
not take much resources either on carrier path or in the internal memory of switches.

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Fig 7.14 Packet Switching

Packet switching enhances line efficiency as packets from multiple applications can be
multiplexed over the carrier. The internet uses packet switching technique. Packet
switching enables the user to differentiate data streams based on priorities. Packets are
stored and forwarded according to their priority to provide quality of service.
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/data_communication_computer_network/physical_l
ayer_switching.htm

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