Aricent PIM (Protocol Independent Multicast) is a portable software implementation of PIM-SM (Sparse Mode). Aricent PIM provides support for inter-domain routing between 2 domains using PIM-SM.

Aricent PIM is designed to provide scalable inter-domain multicast routing across the Internet. It also avoids the performance problems of the earlier multicast routing protocols. This software provides multicast routing and forwarding capability to a router that runs the IP protocol along with IGMP. Aricent PIM routes multicast data packets independent of any Unicast routing protocol.

Figure 1: Aricent PIM in a software
based router architecture


Figure 2: Aricent PIM in a hardware
forwarding based router architecture

Operation: SM Operation is employed in environments where group members are sparsely distributed throughout the network and bandwidth is a constraint. For example, across many regions of the Internet or if users are connected via ISDN lines.

Aricent PIM Features:

• Includes a multicast forwarding engine with clear separation between the control (routing) and multicast forwarding planes.
• Provides support for inter-domain routing between 2 domains using PIM-SM.
• Provides support for multiple instances.
• Provides support for Source Specific Multicast.
• Works as only SSM router or both SM and SSM router.
• Implements the Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF) algorithm.
• Builds and maintains the Rendezvous Point (RP), rooted shared trees (Multicast delivery trees) using periodic and triggered Join/ Prune messages.
• Supports switching from RP tree to SP (Shortest Path) tree when a particular source generates heavy traffic.
• Adapts to Unicast route changes.
• Supports regular housekeeping functions such as Neighbor Discovery and timeout, BootStrap Router (BSR) election, Transmitting periodic Candidate-RP (C-RP) advertisements to the BSR, RP-Set distribution by BSR to all PIM routers.
• Supports Operation under multi-access networks by suppressing and overriding of join/prunes and electing a single forwarder through Asserts.
• Provides APIs to interface with any IP/IGMP router software.
• Provides support for the MIB in RFC 2934.
• Provides open interfaces for management using SNMP, CLI or other management software.
• Provides clear interfaces to use hardware chipsets for multicast forwarding.
• Implements the Generation Identifier (GenID) which is required to rebuild the Multicast forwarding state, when a router goes offline and restarts.
• Conforms to Future Software Architecture for Portability (FSAP2), thus ensuring highly portable code that uses flexible buffer and timer management libraries.

Aricent PIM reduces the time to market for OEMs and VARs who wish to incorporate the PIM functionality into their switching/routing devices.

Other Offerings ------------------------------------------- Protocol Stacks ------------------------------------------- .... IPV4 ---- IP ---- TCP ---- DNS Relay ------------------------------------------- .... IPv6 ---- IPv6 ---- IPv6 Compact Host ------------------------------------------- .... Unicast Routing ---- RIP ---- OSPF ---- BGP ---- ISIS ------------------------------------------- .... Multicast Routing ---- PIM ---- DVMRP ------------------------------------------- .... Label Switching ---- MPLS ------------------------------------------- .... Layer2 Switching ---- VLAN ---- Bridging ---- Link Aggregation ------------------------------------------- .... Security ---- NAT ---- FIREWALL ---- DHCP ---- IPSec ---- IKE ---- RADIUS ---- TACACS+ ---- 802.1x ------------------------------------------- .... Quality Of Service ---- RSVP ---- QOS ------------------------------------------- .... Fault Tolerance ---- VRRP ---- RM ------------------------------------------- .... Management ---- SNMP ---- ENM ---- HTTP ------------------------------------------- .... VPN ---- L2TP ---- PPP ---- IPSec ------------------------------------------- .... WAN Access ---- L2TP ---- PPP ---- FRPVC ---- FRATM ------------------------------------------- .... Narrowband ---- V5.2 ---- ISUP ---- MTP3 ------------------------------------------- .... Optical ---- RM ------------------------------------------- .... ATM ---- UNI3 ---- UNI4 ---- IPOA ---- PNNI ---- LANE2-C ---- LANE2-S ---- MPOA-C ---- MPOA-S ---- ILMI4 ------------------------------------------- ...MORE... ------------------------------------------- OEM Ready Solutions ------------------------------------------- .... Broadband Access ---- Naetra Home Gateway ------------------------------------------- .... Intelligent Switch ---- ISS Overview ---- ISS Enterprise ---- ISS Workgroup ------------------------------------------- .... WLAN Access Point ---- WLAN-AP-Lite ---- WLAN-AP-Standard ---- WLAN-AP-Pro ------------------------------------------- ...MORE...