ACTIVE NETWORK SUPPORT FOR MULTICAST APPLICATIONS

This article analyzes the necessity and feasibility of designing a pro tocol for active networks that supports multicasting applications with different characteristics in terms of data loss tolerance. The articl e begins with a presentation of the service elements required by multi cast applications, and from this study a network service description i s given. The advantages of providing this service over active networks are studied. The service description is then used-as the set of requi rements for the design oi the RMANP protocol. which is capable oi prov iding the service over active network technology. Then a prototype imp lementation RMANP over the Active Node Transport System (ANTS) is pres ented, and some data For the evaluation of its performance is provided . Finally, the main conclusions are that active networks provide flexi ble support For the development of new network services, but further i mprovements in runtime efficiency are required.