Message switching

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In telecommunications, message switching was the precursor of packet switching, where messages were routed in their entirety, one hop at a time. Message switching systems are nowadays mostly implemented over packet-switched or circuit-switched data networks.

Hop-by-hop Telex forwarding and UUCP are examples of message switching systems. E-mail is another example of a message switching system.

When this form of switching is used, no physical path is established in advance in between sender and receiver. Instead, when the sender has a block of data to be sent, it is stored in the first switching office (i.e. router) then forwarded later at one hop at a time. Each block is received in its entity form, inspected for errors and then forwarded or re-transmitted.

to do: commercial message switching and routing systems

A form of store-and-forward network. Data is transmitted into the network and stored in a switch. The network transfers the data from switch to switch when it is convenient to do so, as such the data is not transferred in real-time. Blocking can not occur, however, long delays can happen. The source and destination terminal need not be compatible, since conversions are done by the message switching networks.

A message switch is “transactional”. It can store data or change its format and bit rate, then convert the data back to their original form or an entirely different form at the receive end. Message switching multiplexes data from different sources onto a common facility.

Message switching

See also