Hardswitched

Hardswitched refers to a condition in telecommunications, particularly in traditional circuit-switched networks, where a physical connection is established and maintained for the duration of a call or data session. This means that once a connection is made, it is dedicated to that specific communication and cannot be used by any other user or service until it is released. This contrasts with packet-switched networks, where data is broken into packets and shared resources are utilized more dynamically.

In a hardswitched environment, the network resources are allocated exclusively for the duration of the connection. This ensures a consistent quality of service and predictable performance, as there is no contention for bandwidth with other users. However, it also means that these resources are unavailable for other purposes even if the user is not actively transmitting data, leading to potential inefficiency. Examples of hardswitched technologies include Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) for voice calls and early dedicated leased lines for data transmission. The setup process often involved physical switching mechanisms or signaling protocols to establish and tear down these dedicated circuits. With the rise of IP-based networks and technologies like MPLS, the prevalence of purely hardswitched connections has decreased in favor of more flexible and efficient packet-switched architectures.