This does sound rather like the work of the IETF ForCES working group; the intent there is to split one logical router - to the outside world - into separate pieces. The focus is on the separation of layers 5/6/7 (BGP, OSPF etc routing protocols, traffic shaping, NAT) from layer 3 (packet forwarding), the general purpose applications from the specialised packet processing. But it will allow multiple BGP engines and multiple packet processing engines to interconnect to form a logical whole.
But don't hold your breath; the RFC are a year away. Tom Petch, Network Consultant [EMAIL PROTECTED] +(44) 192 575 3018
