This paper describes a new methodology for protocol design, using incremental construction of the protocol from elements called "protocol boosters" on an as-needed basis. Protocol boosters allow: (1) dynamic protocol customization to heterogeneous environments and (2) rapid protocol evolution. Unlike alternative adaptation approaches, such as link layer, conversion, and termination protocols, protocol boosters are both robust (end-to-end protocol messages are not modified) and efficient (do not replicate the functionality of the end-to-end protocol). We give examples of error and congestion control boosters, and give initial results from booster implementations.

We have prototyped and have begun to experiment with an extremely flexible ATM cell store. The cell store accommodates 16 K ATM cells and allows complete software control of the buffer management strategy. The prototype was designed to serve as an output port in an experimental ATM switch, but has also been used as a stand-alone component in several research ATM networks. It is envisioned that the cell store will aid in the realization of queueing strategies capable of supporting emerging ATM and IP service models. This paper describes the motivation, background, detailed design, and an application of the ATM cell store.

The authors present a high-performance self-routing packet switch architecture, called Sunshine, that can support a wide range of services having diverse performance objectives and traffic characteristics. Sunshine is based on Batcher-banyan networks and achieves high performance by utilizing both internal and output queuing techniques within a single architecture. This queuing strategy results in an extremely robust and efficient architecture suitable for a wide range of services. An enhanced architecture allowing the bandwidth from an arbitrary set of transmission links to be aggregated into trunk groups to create high bandwidth pipes is also presented. Trunk groups appear as a single logical port on the switch and can be used to increase the efficiency of the switch in an extremely bursty environment or to increase the access bandwidth for selected high-bandwidth terminations. Simulation results are presented.>