Next-generation super routers

Routers are the building blocks of the Internet. They handle data at every major traffic point - and each one is capable of processing many millions of data packets every second. Routers are standalone systems that have far more in common with super computers than any other device.

Faced with demands for faster line speeds, increased protocol complexity and the need for more processing per-packet, router design has evolved. Routers are gaining in processing intelligence and performance capabilities. The era of the super router has dawned.

Super routers offer network managers a host of benefits, most notably the high levels of processing performance needed to handle the growing number of high capacity, media-rich Internet services that are required to run at ever-faster wire speeds.

Because the router is one of the most logical places to add performance to the network, it has evolved into an "enterprise in a box" and now features software reuse and scalability for compute-intensive control tasks, applications and services.

Super routers are capable of meeting the increasing processing demands created by faster line speeds, the deeper packet inspection requirements of content-based services and the need to support multiple protocols and evolving industry standards.

It is the rapid increase in processing performance that characterises super routers - and the so-called "fifth generation" routing architectures that back them.

Performance levels as high as this are achieved largely through the addition of "control plane processing" designed to handle the management of policies for execution in the data plane.

Control plane processing addresses functions such as connection management, route management, signalling and exception handling independently of the main system management and control blades which would normally handle these tasks in a conventional router.

As dictated by fifth generation architects, network processors now share space on the interface card with control plane processors and provide flexible implementation of rich networking services at line rate.

The interface card can also feature a telephony functionality (an on-board digital signal processor) to support multi-channel, IP-based services, including voice.

One of the key advantages of super routers is their ability to manage system resources, including resource allocation, diagnostics and fault management. Dual-redundant control blades are often implemented to ensure high availability.

A separate blade may also be added to handle content processing, or intensive packet processing that is based on inspection of the packet payload, rather than simply the header.

Examples where content processing application will play a role include meeting challenges and threats to the corporate network from unauthorised intrusions, viruses and the growing menace of malware.

Service levelling and voice processing (enabled by the digital signal processor) are also examples of content processing applications in the new routers.

The software-based multiprocessing subsystems of super routers` processors provide aggregate processing capacity to handle applications that traditionally required a firmware solution in the form of high-speed ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) - even at 10Gbps wire speeds.

Fifth-generation routing architectures are generally designed along modular lines. Modularity provides the flexibility in the hardware platform necessary to build individually-tailored programmes designed to limit operating costs and maximise return on investment (ROI) in specific applications.

For example, these architectures make it easier to position high-performance processing where and when it is needed in today`s modular network environments. And they deliver the performance, functionality, development tools and software required to extend intelligence in the network.

This, in turn, enables more flexible, cost-effective network designs, faster time-to-market for new service offerings - and richer services.

The growth of Internet computing has made the I/O processor a key factor in system reliability and performance. Enterprise servers and networked storage applications, including network-attached storage (NAS) and storage area network (SAN) implementations, require high rates of throughput for optimal performance.

Super routers meet this need through highly integrated, system-on-a-chip processors designed to move high quantities of data onto the wire to support I/O-intensive applications.

With communications processing platforms now designed to adapt to rapidly evolving requirements without wholesale hardware replacement, the super router with its processing intelligence "closer to the wire" is set to have a significant impact on the Internet-centric applications of the future.