ANALYSIS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF HYBRID SWITCHING

The switching scheme of a point-to-point network determines how packet s flow through each node, and is a primary element in determining the network's performance. In this paper, we present and evaluate a new sw itching scheme called hybrid switching. Hybrid switching dynamically c ombines both virtual cut-through and wormhole switching to provide hig her achievable throughput than wormhole alone, while significantly red ucing the buffer space required at intermediate nodes when compared to virtual cut-through. This scheme is motivated by a comparison of virt ual cut-through and wormhole switching through cycle-level simulations , and then evaluated using the same methods. To show the feasibility o f hybrid switching, as well as to provide a common base for simulating and implementing a variety of routing and switching schemes, we have designed SPIDER, a communication adapter built around a custom ASIC ca lled the Programmable Routing Controller(PRC).