SoftRouter: A Breakthrough Architecture for Data Networking
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Date: 05-10-2005
Start Time:
2:00pm
End Time: 3:00pm
Speaker: Krishan Sabnani
From:
Bell Labs
Location: CEPSR Interschool Lab
Hosted by:
Distributed Network Analysis (DNA) Lab
Abstract:
Disaggregation and standardization are powerful industrial trends. Their application to telephony switching created the SoftSwitch architecture that separates the call-control function from the call-switching function. Our SoftRouter architecture applies the same general principle to the area of IP routing.Current routers are implemented with the control and forwarding functions collocated and tightly integrated by static association. The SoftRouter is a new architecture for IP routing that separates the implementation of control plane functions from packet forwarding functions. Specifically, it implements control-plane functions on general-purpose servers that could be multiple hops away from the elements that perform the actual packet forwarding.
The SoftRouter architecture provides many technical benefits, including reduced cost, increased reliability and scalability, enhanced security, and ease of adding new functionality. The disruptive nature of the SoftRouter architecture has the potential to fundamentally change the IP routing industry by creating separate vendors for the forwarding and control elements (including software for new features) and accelerating innovations through increased competition.