Design and Implementation of a QoS Capable Integrated Switch-Router
    
    E. Basturk, A. Birman, R. Guerin, R. Haas, S. Kamat, D. Kandlur, 
    P. Pan, D. Pendarakis, V. Peris, R. Rajan, D. Saha, D. Williams
    
               IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
     {basturk,birman,guerin,haas,sanjay,kandlur}@watson.ibm.com
      {pan,dimitris,vperis,raju,debanjan,dougw}@@watson.ibm.com


Abstract:

In this paper, we describe the structure and characteristics of a
system designed and built to investigate the integration of switching
(layer 2) and routing (layer 3) technologies.  The goal of the work
was to gain a better understanding of how and where each technology
could benefit the other in delivering performance and functionality.
In addition, the scope of the effort included a complete
implementation and execution of test scenarios, in order to validate
the different design decisions.  The resulting system consists of a
core (ATM) switch fabric to which a number of intelligent adapters are
attached. Each adapter is capable of both routing and switching
packets, and also includes hardware support for the provision of
different levels of quality-of-service (qos).  The switch and the
intelligent adapters are controlled by a ``Control Point'' that
resides in a separate adapter and is responsible for running the
different routing protocols that the system implements, and for
handling all aspects of resources management, including signalling
which is supported through the RSVP protocol.  The design, components,
functions placement, and performance of the system are described in
the paper.