In data transmission, a Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) is a unique identifier which indicates a particular virtual circuit on a network. It is a 16-bit field in the header of an asynchronous transfer mode cell. The VCI, together with the Virtual Path Identifier (VPI), is used to identify the next destination of a cell as it passes through a series of ATM switches on its way to its destination.
ATM switches use the VPI/VCI fields to identify the Virtual Channel Link (VCL) of the next network that a cell needs to transit on its way to its final destination. The function of the VCI is similar to that of the data link connection identifier (DLCI) in frame relay and the Logical Channel Number & Logical Channel Group Number in X.25.
Famous quotes containing the words virtual and/or channel:
“Tragedy dramatizes human life as potentiality and fulfillment. Its virtual future, or Destiny, is therefore quite different from that created in comedy. Comic Destiny is Fortune—what the world will bring, and the man will take or miss, encounter or escape; tragic Destiny is what the man brings, and the world will demand of him. That is his Fate.”
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