A preliminary implementation of a Content-Aware network node

This paper presents a preliminary implementation of a content-aware network node as part of a Content-Aware capable network infrastructure. The proposed network node facilitates all the possible functions provided by an ordinary router or gateway while at the same time exploits flow- and content- awareness in order to identify the content carried within a flow and handle it efficiently. In this context this paper discusses the main concepts and operating principles around the flow and content awareness and presents a preliminary implementation, build around the Linux operating system.