Report Number: CS-TR-89-1273
Institution: Stanford University, Department of Computer Science
Title: Sirpent[TM]: a high-performance internetworking approach
Author: Cheriton, David R.
Date: July 1989
Abstract: A clear target for computer communication technology is to
support a high-performance global internetwork. Current
internetworking approaches use either concatenated virtual
circuits, as in X.75, or a "universal" internetwork datagram,
as in the DoD Internet IP protocol and the IS0 connectionless
network protocol (CLNP). Both approaches have significant
disadvantages.
This paper describes Sirpent[TM] (Source Internetwork Routing
Protocol with Extended Network Transfer), a new approach to
an internetwork architecture that makes source routing the
basis for interconnection, rather than an option as in IP.
Its benefits include simple switching with low per-packet
processing and delay, support for accounting and congestion
control, and scalability to a global internetwork. It also
supports flexible, user-controlled routing such as required
for security, policy-based routing and real-time
applications. We also propose a specific internetwork
protocol, called VIPER[TM], as a realization of the Sirpent
approach.
http://i.stanford.edu/pub/cstr/reports/cs/tr/89/1273/CS-TR-89-1273.pdf