datatransport

Data transport refers to the movement of data between endpoints, across networks or within computer systems. It encompasses the mechanisms that transfer, route, and deliver data while preserving integrity and timing requirements. Data transport is a fundamental function of communications networks and software architectures, enabling applications to exchange information.

In network communications, data transport is typically provided by the transport layer of the network stack. Its duties include segmentation and reassembly, addressing and multiplexing of multiple streams, reliability and flow control, and sometimes ordering and error detection. It operates above the network layer and below the application layer.

Common transport protocols include TCP, which provides reliable, connection-oriented byte streams with in-order delivery; UDP, a connectionless datagram protocol offering low-latency transmission without guaranteed delivery; and SCTP, which supports multi-streaming and multi-homing. More recent developments include QUIC, a transport protocol built on UDP that provides reliable streams with encryption and connection migration, optimized for the web.

Security and performance are core considerations. Encryption such as TLS (over TCP) or DTLS (over UDP) protects data in transit. Congestion control and rate limiting influence throughput and fairness; algorithms include Cubic, BBR, and Reno. In data centers and high-performance networks, alternative data transport methods based on RDMA, InfiniBand, or RoCE enable direct memory access and very low latency for storage and HPC workloads.

Standards are defined by organizations such as the IETF, which publishes RFCs describing transport protocols and associated mechanisms. Data transport concepts also appear in distributed systems and middleware, where reliable, ordered or best-effort delivery between components is required.