pääteyhteyden

Pääteyhteys, literally translated as “terminal connection”, is a Finnish term used to describe a direct communication link between two endpoint devices in a computer network. The concept is analogous to what English‑speaking networking texts refer to as a “point‑to‑point link” or “direct connection”. In practice, pääteyhteys typically refers to wired or wireless links that carry data directly from one terminal (such as a workstation, server, or network interface) to another terminal or to a central network element. Because the connection breaks at the endpoints, it is particularly useful for troubleshooting, local area connectivity, or establishing dedicated links for high‑performance or security‑critical applications.

There are several common types of pääteyhteys. The most frequent is a copper‑based Ethernet link using twisted‑pair cabling or fiber‑optic cables for higher bandwidth. In the context of mobile and wireless networks, a pääteyhteys may refer to a direct device‑to‑device link such as Bluetooth, Wi‑Fi direct, or a cellular point‑to‑point attachment for 802.11p or LTE‑Direct. When the link uses a virtual bridge or tunnel, it is often called a VPN endpoint connection; here the physical medium is indirect but the logical endpoint pair is direct.

Network design leverages pääteyhteys topology for reducing traffic congestion and latency. By connecting key servers (database, authentication, firewall) directly to critical users or subsystems, administrators can isolate traffic, apply fine‑grained security policies, or guarantee Quality‑of‑Service (QoS) metrics. Conversely, purely logical endpoints—such as those joined to an overlay mesh network—defer to more complex routing and may have higher hop counts.

The term appears in Finnish educational material, technical manuals, and network design guides. While not universally standardized, the core idea remains the same: a connection that directly links two terminal devices with minimal intermediaries.