Virtual circuit
Emulation a dedicated physical link over a packet-switched network / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A virtual circuit (VC) is a means of transporting data over a data network, based on packet switching and in which a connection is first established across the network between two endpoints. The network, rather than having a fixed data rate reservation per connection as in circuit switching, takes advantage of the statistical multiplexing on its transmission links, an intrinsic feature of packet switching.
This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. (August 2012) |
A 1978 standardization of virtual circuits by the CCITT imposes per-connection flow controls at all user-to-network and network-to-network interfaces. This permits participation in congestion control and reduces the likelihood of packet loss in a heavily loaded network.[1][2] Some circuit protocols provide reliable communication service through the use of data retransmissions invoked by error detection and automatic repeat request (ARQ).
Before a virtual circuit may be used, it must be established between network nodes in the call setup phase. Once established, a bit stream or byte stream may be exchanged between the nodes, providing abstraction from low-level division into protocol data units, and enabling higher-level protocols to operate transparently.
An alternative to virtual-circuit networks are datagram networks.