Links
Link “directionality”
- Simplex vs duplex
- Full-duplex vs half duplex
- A pair of simplex links in opposite directions form a full-duplex link
- Half-duplex link (assuming time to reverse direction is negligible) is similar to full-duplex but at half the half-duplex bandwidth
To increase bandwidth of a link, run several copies of it in parallel
- Aka "space division multiplexing" and "striping"
- Parallel busses, switched networks, multiple disks
Another use for multiple links is fault tolerance