Chapter 15 / 15.6

15.6 TRANSPORT PROTOCOLS

The Internet Protocol (IP) delivers packets between computers connected to an internetwork. However, a modern computer often runs many network applications simultaneously, including web browsers, email clients, video conferencing software, file transfer applications, and streaming services. A mechanism is therefore required to ensure that incoming data is delivered to the correct application. This function is performed by the Transport Layer.

The Transport Layer provides end-to-end communication between applications running on different computers. In addition to directing information to the correct application, transport protocols may also provide reliability, sequencing, flow control, and error recovery.