1 A message is a logical unit of information and can be of any length.
In message switching, if a station wishes to send a message to another station, it first adds the destination address to the message.
Message switching does not establish a dedicated path between the two communicating devices i.e. no direct link is established between sender and receiver.
Each message is treated as an independent unit.
In message switching, each complete message is then transmitted from device to device through the internetwork i.e. message is transmitted from the source node to intermediate node.
The intermediate node stores the complete message temporarily, inspects it for errors and transmits the message to the next node based on an available free channel and its routing information. Because of this reason message switched networks are called store and forward network as shown in fig.
The actual path taken by the message to its destination is dynamic as the path is established as it travels along.
When the message reaches a node, the channel on which it came is released for use by another message.
As shown in Figure message Ml is transmitted from A to D and M2 is transmitted C to B. Message Ml follows the route A --> I --> II --> III --> D and M2 follows the route C --> IV --> II --> B depending upon the availability of free path at that particular moment.
The first electromechanical telecommunication system used message switching for telegrams. The message was punched on paper tape off-line at the sending office and then read in and transmitted over a communication line to the next office along the way, where it was punched out on paper tape. An operator there tore the tape off and read it in on tape readers.