MPFS: A truly scalable router architecture for next generation Internet

A new generation architecture of IP routers called massive parallel forwarding and switching (MPFS) is proposed, which is totally different from modern routers. The basic idea of MPFS is mapping complicated forwarding process into multilevel scalable switch fabric so as to implement packet forwarding in a pipelining and distributed way. This processing mechanism is named forwarding in switching (FIS). By interconnecting multi-stage, lower speed components, called forwarding and switching nodes (FSN), MPFS achieves better scalability in forwarding and switching performance just like MPP. We put emphasis upon IPv6 lookup problem in MPFS and propose a method for partitioning IPv6 FIB and mapping them to switch fabric. Simulation and computation results suggest that MPFS routers can support line-speed forwarding with a million of IPv6 prefixes at 40 Gbps. We also propose an implementation of 160 Tbps core router based on MPFS architecture at last.