Parallel TCP for high performance communication subsystems

Emerging applications and rapid advances in communication technology increasingly require high performance communication subsystems. Parallelizing protocols in order to efficiently make use of multiprocessor platforms is one approach towards such systems. This paper presents a functionbased parallel structure of the widely used TCP protocol, applicable to a large variety of implementation platforms. An example of a multiprocessor implementation of the parallel TCP is discussed. General purpose processors as well as specialized VLSI implementations of performance critical functions are considered as a basis for high performance communication subsystems being able to sustain gigabit rates.