- - - - XTP / PE Design Considerations †

The Xpress Transfer Protocol, XTP, is an approach to protocol design for next generation networks. The Protocol Engine, PE, is a hardware architecture for implementing network protocols and system interfaces using VLSI techniques. The two projects are related: XTP is designed with a PE in mind. This paper presents some of the ideas and goals in XTP. Introduction XTP [1] represents a compromise between issues of bandwidth, latency, protocol complexity, VLSI constraints, transport services, system interfacing, and speculation about future network evolution. The general goals are to demonstrate feasibility of Gbit/sec operation, to fit in a VLSI environment, and to provide adequate functionality for distributed system applications.