High-performance Longest Prefix Match Logic Supporting Fast Updates for IP Forwarding Devices

Lookup architectures are among the well researched subjects in networking. This is due to its fundamental role in the performance of Internet routers. Internet routers use a lookup method known as Longest Prefix Match (LPM) algorithm to determine the next-hop to forward the packet to. State-of-the-art lookup designs try to achieve better search times and/or reduce storage requirements thereby sacrificing the requirement for high update rates. But recent studies have shown the requirement for high update rates, especially in the Internet core routers, due to increasing routing instabilities and anomalous traffic. This paper presents a novel architecture to obtain high update rates in forwarding devices without compromising on the speed and space advantages.