Explicit Forward Congestion Indication: EFCI is an indication in the ATM cell header. A network element in an impending-congested state or a congested state may set EFCI so that this indication may be examined by the destination end-system. For example, the end- system may use this indication to implement a protocol that adaptively lowers the cell rate of the connection during congestion or impending congestion. A network element that is not in a congestion state or an impending congestion state will not modify the value of this indication. Impending congestion is the state when a network equipment is operating around its engineered capacity level.
See Explicit Forward Congestion Indicator.
Explicit Forward Congestion Indicator. In an ATM network, one of two feedback mechanisms used by the Available Bit Rate service category to inform the source of the network resources available to it.
Explicit Forward Congestion Indication - A 1-bit field in the PTI that contains information about whether congestion at an intermediate node has been experienced. The EFCI bit is set when a threshold (for example, buffer contents) has been exceeded.
Explicit Forward Congestion Indication. A field in the ATM cell header indicating congestion or impending congestion. When EFCI is set, it indicates that a network element (any device with an ATM interface) either is or soon will be ope rating near full capacity. Devices set the EFCI field to alert the destination end-system of a potential problem. An ATM switch receiving cells with EFCI set might adaptively lower the cell rate to deal with the congestion (or avoid impending congestion).
The second bit of the payload type field in the header of an ATM cell, the EFCI bit indicates network congestion to receiving hosts. On a congested switch, the EFCI bit is set to "1" by the transmitting network module when a certain number of cells have accumulated in the network module's shared memory buffer. When a cell is received that has its EFCI bit set to "1," the receiving host notifies the sending host, which should then reduce its transmission rate.
explicit forward congestion indication. In ATM, one of the congestion feedback modes allowed by ABR service. A network element in an impending congestion state or in a congested state sets the EFCI. The destination end-system implements a protocol that lowers the cell rate of the connection based on the value of the EFCI.