RFC 1621 (rfc1621) - Page 1 of 51

Pip Near-term Architecture

Network Working Group                                         P. Francis
Request for Comments: 1621                                           NTT
Category: Informational                                         May 1994


                       Pip Near-term Architecture

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  This memo
   does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
   this memo is unlimited.

Preamble

   During 1992 and 1993, the Pip internet protocol, developed at
   Belclore, was one of the candidate replacments for IP.  In mid 1993,
   Pip was merged with another candidate, the Simple Internet Protocol
   (SIP), creating SIPP (SIP Plus).  While the major aspects of Pip--
   particularly its distinction of identifier from address, and its use
   of the source route mechanism to achieve rich routing capabilities--
   were preserved, many of the ideas in Pip were not.  The purpose of
   this RFC and the companion RFC "Pip Header Processing" are to record
   the ideas (good and bad) of Pip.

   This document references a number of Pip draft memos that were in
   various stages of completion.  The basic ideas of those memos are
   presented in this document, though many details are lost.  The very
   interested reader can obtain those internet drafts by requesting them
   directly from me at [email protected]>.

   The remainder of this document is taken verbatim from the Pip draft
   memo of the same title that existed when the Pip project ended.  As
   such, any text that indicates that Pip is an intended replacement for
   IP should be ignored.

Abstract

   Pip is an internet protocol intended as the replacement for IP
   version 4.  Pip is a general purpose internet protocol, designed to
   evolve to all forseeable internet protocol requirements.  This
   specification describes the routing and addressing architecture for
   near-term Pip deployment.  We say near-term only because Pip is
   designed with evolution in mind, so other architectures are expected
   in the future.  This document, however, makes no reference to such
   future architectures.





Francis