Conventional Routers - IBM 9077 Get Connected

Layer 3
Layer 2
Figure 8. Conventional Routers
The SP Switch Router provides near wire-speed packet forwarding while
using standard routing protocols. This ensures interoperability with other
network technologies and does not require a specific network architecture,
such as ATM. It works equally well in large and small networks. At each hop
where a routing switch is used, routes are processed at Layer 3 but the
packet is forwarded at Layer 2 (see Figure 9 on page 15). In the case of the
SP Router, the route processing is done through hardware, so all processing
is done at near-wire speed.
14
IBM 9077 SP Switch Router: Get Connected to the SP Switch
2
Router
1
3
Router
Router Router
Process
......
Packets
........
.....
5
4
Router
Disadvantages:
Shared data paths
All processing done on Layer 3
Slow softwarebased processing
Process
......
Packets
.....
Unswitched Data
Switched Data