Label switching

Label switching is a technique of network relaying to overcome the problems perceived by traditional IP-table switching. Here, the switching of network packets occurs at a lower level, namely the data link layer rather than the traditional network layer.
Each packet is assigned a label number and the switching takes place after examination of the label assigned to each packet. The switching is much faster than IP-routing. New technologies such as Multiprotocol Label Switching use label switching. The established ATM protocol also uses label switching at its core.
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A related topic is multilayer switching, which discusses silicon-based wire-speed routing devices that examine not only network-layer packet information but also layer 4 and layer-7 information.