FORWARDING A PACKET WITHIN A ROUTER USING FRAGMENTS OVER AN INTERCONNECT

摘要

A method and a router having a plurality of blades comprising at least a first blade and a second blade. The router comprises an interconnect providing a plurality of channels, each of which being used between two of the blades. The first blade receives a packet addressed to exit the router via the second blade, segments the packets into at least two fragments and forwards each fragment to at least two different blades, each via one of the interconnect's channels. The interconnect may be an optical interconnect by which a single wavelength from one blade defines one of the plurality of channels and wherein each blade supports a plurality of wavelengths. The at least two different blades may comprise each blade of the router, except the first blade. Each of the plurality of channels may also be a dedicated channel between two of the blades.