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Packet Switching
In packet switching, messages are divided into smaller pieces called packets. Each packet includes source and destination address information so that individual packets can be routed through the internetwork independently. As you can see in Figure 2.6, the packets that make up a message can take very different routes through the internetwork.

So far, packet switching looks considerably like message switching, but the distinguishing characteristic is that packets are restricted to a size that enables the switching devices to manage the packet data entirely in memory. This eliminates the need to store the data temporarily on disk. Packet switching, therefore, routes packets through the network much more rapidly and efficiently than is possible with message switching.

Several methods of packet switching exist. Two common methods of packet switching are as follows:
These two methods are discussed in the following sections.

Further Information