From Tightly Coupled to Network Distributed

In their effort to build a comprehensive range of networking products, many equipment manufacturers have invested in an equally wide range of operating systems (OSs). The results are predictable: code can’t be reused across products, engineers can’t move quickly from one project to another, and the networking products themselves can’t offer end-to-end consistency of software services and management tools – much to the customer’s inconvenience.  In this paper, we look at how a microkernel OS based on network-transparent IPC can address these issues by allowing applications to be coded once, then deployed across entire product lines. With this OS architecture, the same application can run on a single-processor device, be partitioned across a cluster of loosely coupled processors, or run on an SMP system, all without recoding or relinking.  The net effect: less development effort, reduced testing, greater product consistency, and higher return on investment.