Switching center

A switching center is a node in a telecommunications Circuit switching network which is connected to either another switching center and/or to end user devices. Switching centers are aware of other centers and possible routes between them such that on demand a center can establish an optimal route for a demanded circuit. An optimal route may involve selection of circuit size, latency, bit error rate BER or other Quality of service parameters. The decision is based on the condition prevailing at the time in the network.

Compare packet switching networks which make some of these decisions for each packet of a data exchange.