A 50-Gb/s IP router

Aggressive research on gigabit-per-second networks has led to dramatic improvements in network transmission speeds. One result of these improvements has been to put pressure on router technology to keep pace. This paper describes a router, nearly completed, which is more than fast enough to keep up with the latest transmission technologies. The router has a backplane speed of 50 Gb/s and can forward tens of millions of packets per second.