Network Search Engine

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Computer networks are connected together to form bigger networks. Routers are devices that connect these networks. For example, a home network connected to the network of an Internet service provider. Routers that handle more number of networks or computers connected to them need to perform their switching functionality faster enough such that they themselves do not become bottlenecks in the communication they facilitate. A network search engine (also known as network search element or NSE for short) is a special-purpose device that helps a router do one of its core and repeated function of address lookup faster. Besides routing, address lookup is also done to perform functions such as keeping track of the services used for billing the user of the network, looking up patterns of information in the data being passed through the network. ^[1]

These are often available as ASIC chips to be interfaced with the network processor of the router products. Content-addressable memory, Trie are some of the techniques used in implementing NSEs. ^{[2] [3]}

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