Re: "routing table slots" and the real problem

[Paul Ferguson <pferguso () cisco com>]

At 01:25 PM 3/2/97, Joseph T. Klein wrote:

> We are re-designing the Internet to make up for the fact the 
> largest manufacturers of routers has been slow to develop and
> deploy systems that can keep up with the growth curve. A lot of
> this comes down to size of the memory bus on low cost systems.

Without launching into a long, tiresome response here, I would
suggest that this is correct, yet incorrect. The statistics
that I have seen indicates that we (collectively) are not
behind the curve here. Of course, there are extraneous issues
which do not relate to the router vendors (availability of
fiber, etc.), but let's not go down that rat hole.


> If router manufacturers worked on hardware and all used an open
> software standard ... such as gated ... we would all be better off.
> Open standards allow all of us to benefit from the work of others.

I like open standards just as much as the next guy, but let's
be realistic here. There is a difference between 'open standards'
with regards to getting bits from point a to point b (the protocols
developed within the IETF and elsewhere) and operating systems.

I would suggest that the former is much more important than the
latter.

- paul

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