PowerExchange uses asynchronous network communication for all send and receive data operations between a PowerExchange client and a PowerExchange Listener. With asynchronous communication, PowerExchange uses separate threads for network processing and data processing, so that network processing overlaps with data processing.

To detect unsuccessful connection attempts or failed connections, PowerExchange provides several types of timeout processing, including heartbeat timeout processing. During periods of inactivity, the network threads on the PowerExchange client and PowerExchange Listener send and receive heartbeat data. If no heartbeat or non-heartbeat data is sent or received during the heartbeat timeout interval, PowerExchange terminates the connection and issues an error message.

PowerExchange asynchronous communication, including heartbeat processing, provides the following benefits: