Active pipes: service composition for programmable networks

Active networks allow customized processing of data traffic within the network which can be used by applications to improve the quality of their sessions. To simplify the development of active applications in a heterogeneous environment, we propose "active pipes" as a programming abstraction to specify transmission and processing requirements. We describe how an active pipe can be mapped onto network resources by a shortest path algorithm, and how optimal processing sites and a route through the network can be determined. Additionally, we propose a scalable network software architecture implementing the functionality required for active pipes.