The Annapolis Junction, Maryland-based Cray Communications Inc unit of Cray Electronics Holdings Plc has introduced an additional capability, called Addressless Routing, to its System Center router. According to the company, Addressless Routing eliminates the need to assign network addresses at each end station in the network individually because of network moves, adds and changes. All the network operator has to do is to number each local area network port with a number from one to 255, says Cray, leaving the System Center routers do the rest, including locating other System Center routers on the network, locating end stations and dynamically assigning them addresses based on segment numbers and Media Access Control address. The addressless routed internetwork uses IS-IS protocol to update routing tables as these changes take place. The system is said to be protocol-independent, and supports Internet Protocol, Open Systems Interconnection, DECnet Phase IV and Phase V, and Internet Packet Exchange. It also gives network administrators a way to route protocols that have no inherent routing layer such as NetBEUI, the default protocol for Windows for Workgroups, and Local Area Transport. The Addressless Routing capability is free, and available now on all new and existing System Center routers.
