High-speed active network node - its concept and implementation for gigabit-network applications

The spread of the IP (internet protocol) network is giving rise to various new services. The problem is that the use of the end-to-end communication model is slowing the development of the next generation of applications. The active network (AN) as stated in D.L. Thennenhause et al. (1997) is an attempt to establish a new platform that encourages the evolution of network applications. The AN processes communication data in the network by using application-dependent protocols. Existing off-the-shelf network nodes offer only fixed functionality at the user´s site, and computer systems can not support wide-bandwidth processing of telecom packets such as gigabit, Ethernet. In this paper, we introduce the overall concept of our programmable node system and its implementation. Some application implementation results are also described.