Multicasting in a shared buffer memory switch

Abstract

A shared buffer memory switch with multicast capability has been proposed (H. Kuwahara et al., 1989). This switch has high hardware utilization but is unfair to unicast cells. Its performance may not be acceptable for some traffic patterns. We propose a new architecture to implement the multicast function in a shared buffer memory switch. Our design preserves the advantages of the original design, is fair to unicast and multicast cells, and maintains a good performance under any traffic pattern.<>