Transnet Architecture and Logistical Networking for Distributed Storage

This paper addresses the possibility that IP, in the role of the common service, is not as general as is needed in order to directly address application requirements, including scalable storage services, that go beyond simple datagram delivery. We propose to generalize the view of layer 2 to include local storage and processing services, and to situate a new common protocol between the local and network layers in the current network stack. Since a protocol at this layer would provide an abstraction of services for data that is in transit at the intermediate node, we propose to call it the transit layer Our view is that a transit layer protocol that abstracts the particular characteristics of different technologies at the local layer, while being more general and sitting below the network layer in the stack, would exhibit greater deployment scalability and provide a broader foundation for network interoperability than IP. We present an account of scalable storage middleware developed under the auspices of the Logistical Networking project as an overlay implementation of transit layer functionality over the current Internet