SCTP: state of the art in research, products, and technical challenges

The stream control transmission protocol (SCTP) is being standardized by IETF as a reliable transport protocol to address a number of limitations of TCP. Due to its attractive features, such as multi-streaming and multi-homing, SCTP has received much attention from the research community and industry. The paper serves as a tutorial by introducing the main features of SCTP, and discussing the state of the art in SCTP research activities. We also provide a survey on the available products which implement SCTP. Finally, the challenges faced by SCTP research community are identified with a view to stimulating further research.