RFC 1621 (rfc1621) - Page 1 of 51
Pip Near-term Architecture
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
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