Switch/Router Architectures

Crossbar switch fabrics offer many benefits when designing switch/routers. This book discusses switch/router architectures using design examples and case studies of well-known systems that employ crossbar switch fabric as their internal interconnects. This book looks to explain the design of switch/routers from a practicing engineer's perspective. It uses a broad range of design examples to illustrate switch/router designs and provides case studies to enhance readers comprehension of switch/router architectures. The book goes on to discuss industry best practices in switch/router design and explains the key features and differences between unicast and multicast packet forwarding architectures. This book will be of benefit to telecoms/networking industry professionals and engineers as well as researchers and academics looking for more practical and efficient approaches for designing non-blocking crossbar switch fabrics.

James Aweya, PhD, is a chief research scientist at Etisalat British Telecom Innovation Center (EBTIC), Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE. He has been granted 64 US patents and has published over 54 journal papers, 39 conference papers, and 43 Nortel technical reports. He has authored one book and is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Part 1: Characteristics of Switch/Routers with Crossbar Switch Fabrics 1. The Switch/Router: Integrated OSI Layers 2 and 3 Forwarding on a Single Platform 2. Understanding Crossbar Switch Fabrics 3. Introduction to Switch/Routers with Crossbar Switch Fabrics Part 2: Design Examples and Case Studies 4. Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches with Supervisor Engines 1A and 2 5. Avaya P580 and P882 Routing Switch Architecture with 80-Series Media Module 6. Foundry Networks Multilayer Switches with IronCoreTM Network Interface Module 7. Foundry Networks Multilayer Switches with JetCoreTM Network Interface Module 8. Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches with Supervisor Engine 720 9. Multicast Routing and Multicast Forwarding Information Base (MFIB) Architecture 10. Unicast versus Multicast Packet Forwarding: A Case Study