Chapter 3: The Cell Switching Router (CSR)

Chapter 3: The Cell Switching Router (CSR)

Overview

In this chapter and the next three we look at four of the proposed approaches to label switching, proceeding in the order in which they were publicly announced. The first of these is the Cell Switching Router, or CSR, as specified and developed primarily by Toshiba.

As we observed in Chapter 1 , one way to build a label switching router is to run IP control protocols directly on ATM switching hardware. The CSR, as the name suggests, is such an approach. All label switching approaches also require a label binding protocol, and the one used by the CSR is the Flow Attribute Notification Protocol (FANP).

CSR predates the Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) initiative by several years. It was presented to the IETF IP over ATM working group in spring 1994 and to the ATM Forum?s Service Aspects and Applications working group in the summer of that year. The CSR was presented again at an IETF BOF (Birds of a Feather) session in spring 1995. When the effort to charter the MPLS working group began in late 1996, the CSR was presented as one of the candidate approaches to label switching (along with Tag Switching and ARIS).

The delay between the first presentations of the CSR approach and the formation of a working group to standardize label switching seems surprisingly long. No doubt there were many factors at work, not least of which was that it took some time for a critical...

< Previous Excerpt Next Excerpt >

Purchase This Book

Switching in IP Networks: IP Switching, Tag Switching, & Related Technologies

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 3: The Cell Switching Router (CSR)

Contact Preferences

This is embarrasing...

Customize Your GlobalSpec Experience

Select Your Free Newsletters

Industry Newsletters

Select Your Free Product Alerts

This is embarrasing...