Emerging high speed transfer protocols

Modern high speed networks such as the 100 Mbit/s FDDI and the emerging MAN standard have opened opportunities for novel computer applications based on high speed, low latency communications. The authors describe the deficiencies of the current generation of transport protocols in the high speed network environment and critically examine how one modern protocol, the express transfer protocol (XTP) from Protocol Engines, attempts to address these problems. Implementation issues are discussed in the context of a modern high performance distributed system. The authors conclude with a survey of the standardisation process and the current industrial status of the emerging high speed protocols