Which technology can be implemented to prioritize network traffic when it becomes saturated?

Quality of Service (QoS) is the technology that can be implemented to prioritize network traffic, particularly during times of network saturation. QoS techniques allow for the management of network resources by establishing policies that determine the priority of different types of traffic. For example, critical applications such as VoIP or streaming services might be given higher priority over less time-sensitive traffic like file downloads. This prioritization ensures that essential services maintain their performance levels even when bandwidth is limited.

By using QoS, organizations can implement various mechanisms to ensure that important traffic flows are prioritized, reducing latency, jitter, and packet loss for high-priority applications. The technology typically involves classifying and marking packets, which helps network devices understand which traffic should be prioritized and managed more effectively.

In contrast, other options such as traffic shaping and load balancing serve different purposes. Traffic shaping is about controlling the amount of traffic that can traverse the network, which can help manage bandwidth but does not inherently prioritize traffic types. Load balancing distributes workloads across multiple resources to optimize resource use, minimize response time, and avoid overload, but does not specifically prioritize traffic types in moments of saturation. Network segmentation isolates different network segments but does not prioritize traffic within those segments.

Thus, QoS is the correct choice,