Distributed control for PARIS

Abstract

We describe the control protocols of the PARIS experimental network. This high bandwidth network for integrated communication (data, voice, video) is currently operational as a laboratory prototype. It will also be deployed within the AURORA Testbed that is part of the NSF/DARPA Gigabit Networking program. The high bandwidth dicates the need of specialized hardware to support faster packet handling and control protocols. A new network control architecture is presented which exploits the specialized hardware in order to support the expected real time needs of future traffic. In particular, since control information can be distributed quickly, decisions can be made based upon more complete and accurate information. In some respects, this has the effect of having the benefits of centralized control (e.g. easier bandwidth resource allocation to connections), while retaining the fault-tolerance and scalability of a distributed architecture.