Transport System Architecture Services for High-Performance Communications Systems

Providing end-to-end gigabit communication support for high-bandwidth multimedia applications requires transport systems that transfer data efficiently via network protocols such as TCP, TP4, XTP, and STII. This paper describes and classifies transport system services that integrate operating system resources such as CPU(s), virtual memory, and I/O devices together with network protocols to support distributed multimedia applications running on local and wide area networks. A taxonomy is presented that compares and evaluates four commercial and experimental transport systems in terms of their protocol processing support. The systems covered in this paper include System V UNIX STREAMS, the BSD UNIX networking subsystem, the x-kernel, and the Choices Conduit system. This paper is intended to navigate researchers and developers through the transport system design space by describing alternative approaches for key transport system services.