Current estimates and measurements predict that Internet traffic will continue to grow for many years to come. Driving this growth is the fact that the Internet has moved from a convenience to a mission-critical platform for conducting and succeeding in business. In addition, the provision of advanced broadband services to end users will continue to cultivate and prolong this growth in the future. As a result, there is a great demand for gigabit/terabit routers and switches (IP routers, ATM switches, Ethernet switches) that knit together the constituent networks of the global Internet, creating the illusion of a unified whole. These switches/routers must not only have an aggregate capacity.
