The technique involves combining multiple network connections in parallel to increase throughput beyond what a single connection could sustain, and to provide redundancy in case one of the connections fails. For example, two 1 Gigabit Ethernet connections might be aggregated to appear as a single 2 Gigabit Ethernet connection. This logical combination improves network bandwidth and resilience.
This method is critical in environments where high bandwidth and continuous availability are paramount, such as data centers, enterprise networks, and server farms. By distributing traffic across multiple links, it enhances network performance and prevents bottlenecks. It has evolved from proprietary solutions to standardized protocols, making it a ubiquitous technology in modern networking infrastructure.