Network congestion occurs when a network node or link is overwhelmed by the amount of data traffic being transmitted, leading to delays and potential packet loss. This situation typically arises when the demand for network resources exceeds their capacity, affecting communication patterns and causing performance degradation in distributed systems. Understanding network congestion is crucial for optimizing communication strategies and ensuring efficient resource usage in parallel computing environments.
congrats on reading the definition of Network Congestion. now let's actually learn it.