Internet traffic is increasing by at least 200% per year and the world's largest Internet Service Provider expects traffic on its regional trunks to grow to a 1-10 petabit range over the next four to five years. Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), long-haul fiber-optic links and high-capacity all-optical circuit switches are now being used in the Internet core to handle this traffic, creating demand for the high-performance packet switches (IP routers, ATM switches, and Ethernet Switches) which feed this optical core.

In the last ten years, tremendous technological advances have taken place to meet these objectives. This is the first book to cover these advances in a comprehensive survey. It provides integrated coverage of the state-of-the-art in packet-switching technology by presenting contributions from the leading researchers in industry and universities.

A mix of theoretical and practical material makes this book an essential reference for researchers in academia as well as industrial engineers.