The protocol was designed for a simple, low cost switched network made of point-to-point links. This network sends variable length data packets reliably at high speed. It routes the packets using wormhole routing. Unlike Token Ring or other types of local area networks (LANs) with comparable specifications, IEEE 1355 scales beyond a thousand nodes without requiring higher transmission speeds. The network is designed to carry traffic from other types of networks, notably Internet Protocol and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), but does not depend on other protocols for data transfers or switching. In this, it resembles Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS).