packet-switched networking

The concept that data that needs to be moved from one place to another can be broken into small pieces and relayed from node to node based on dynamic routing information. Packet switched networking is what makes the internet possible, as it is the core concept of TCP/IP. It differs from other types of networking in that no single host is responsible for all of the network's traffic. It is very decentralized, allowing great freedom in designing topologies.

The Internet is a packet switched
network. As a matter of fact, it can
be directly traced in an unbroken
line to the very first non-trivial
packet switched network, the
ARPAnet.
The first thing to be sent over the
seminal Internet was the word
"log". It was supposed to be "login"
but the computer on the other end
died when it tried to do command
completion after receiving the letter
'g'.