Video files can be a mixture of both voice and data and suffer twice the transmission delay. Real time video connections require a separate network without contention and a large bandwidth. To compensate for potential loss of information during transport across the network, applications may include error checking and correction techniques to prevent loss of data, with a significant increase in data transfer as the cost for this reliability. Optimization of data flow on the network is made horribly difficult because of the lack of standardization across applications addressing location, transmission starting and ending point, and size of transmission. The Internet exists as a connectionless public network service.
Information travels through the path of least resistance without priority, control or security.
Each piece of information dispatched into the network has its destination individually mapped by the hardware switch or router through which it is transiting. All types of data traffic can travel the connectionless avenues, but there is no control of the traffic or guaranteed delivery. Frame Relay, ATM, and X.25 services are implemented for a closed customer base in a connection-oriented manner. Data traffic passes along a virtual dedicated network and enjoys the predictability of a single route. Unfortunately, except for ATM, no other protocol can share the highway, and only ATM provides the network full awareness of the data specifications and requirements.