Bottleneck

Bottleneck literally refers to the narrowed portion (neck) of a bottle near its opening, which limit the rate of outflow, and may describe any object of a similar shape.

Metaphorically, the term may also be used as an analogy for any of the following implications of rate limitation or function restriction:

Computing

• Bottleneck (network), in communication networks using max-min fairness
• Bottleneck (software), a software component that severely affects application performance
• Internet bottleneck, when high usage slows the performance on the Internet at a particular point
• Von Neumann bottleneck, a limit of throughput between a computer's processor and memory
• Interconnect bottleneck

Geography

• Bottleneck (K2), a mountain feature near the top of K2 mountain
• Choke point, a feature that reduces passability of terrain
• Free State Bottleneck, a quasi-state that existed in Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic

Other

• Bottleneck (engineering), where the performance of an entire system is limited by a single component
• Bottleneck (production), where one process reduces capacity of the whole chain of processes
• Bottleneck guitar, also known as a slide guitar
• Nocturnal bottleneck hypothesis to explain several mammal traits
• Population bottleneck, an evolutionary event that drastically reduces a population
• Traffic bottleneck, a local disruption in a transportation network

See also

• Liebig's law of the minimum
• Reverse salient