Computing Atlas

How Computing Was Built
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Concept

Packet Switching

Technique

Packet switching is the routing and transferring of data by means of addressed packets, so that a channel is occupied only while a packet is in flight, letting many conversations share one line. The concept was invented independently twice, by Paul Baran at the RAND Corporation in the early 1960s and by Donald Davies at Britain's National Physical Laboratory in 1965; Davies coined the term, and his concepts and designs were incorporated into the ARPANET, the network from which the Internet descends. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Disputed
Origin Year
1965 1
Invented independently twice: Paul Baran at RAND in the early 1960s and Donald Davies at the NPL in 1965. 1965 is Davies's date, and the term is his coinage; which invention counts as the origin is genuinely split between the two.
Core Principle
Cut data into addressed packets that each find their own way and occupy the line only in flight, instead of holding a circuit open end to end. 1
Connections

Associated With

ARPANET, Systems

Davies's packet switching concepts and designs were incorporated into the ARPANET.

Source Wikipedia: Packet Switching

In Field

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Packet Switching
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Concept and History sections
    The concept of switching small blocks of data was invented independently by Paul Baran at the RAND Corporation during the early 1960s in the US and Donald Davies at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the UK in 1965.
  • Concept section
    The routing and transferring of data by means of addressed packets so that a channel is occupied during the transmission of the packet only...
  • History section
    He coined the term packet switching, and proposed building a commercial nationwide data network in the UK.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.