What is a key characteristic of VM queues compared to JMS queues?

VM queues are designed to facilitate communication between components within the same application or instance without the need for an external message broker. This is a crucial differentiator from JMS (Java Message Service) queues, which typically rely on external brokers to manage message delivery, routing, and persistence. By operating in-memory and directly between the components, VM queues can achieve higher performance and lower latency for inter-process messaging, making them particularly suitable for scenarios where quick communication is essential.

This direct communication mechanism is beneficial in scenarios where you want to avoid the overhead and complexity of managing an external broker, which can introduce points of failure and additional latency. VM queues excel in scenarios that require fast, reliable communication without the need for durable message storage or external connectivity.

In contrast, the other choices present aspects that do not align with the properties of VM queues. For instance, VM queues do not require an external broker, they are capable of supporting synchronous communication, and their speed is generally higher than that of JMS queues due to the absence of network latency and broker overhead. Understanding these characteristics helps in selecting the appropriate messaging paradigm based on application requirements.