From: mark_cruzNOTFORSPAM@hotmail.com   
      
   Hello   
      
   there are a few companies out there (for example, "IPinfusion" and its ZebOS   
   platform) delivering , as they call it,  networking middleware providing   
   support of Layer 2/3 routing and switching protocols (as they claim, VLANs,   
   MAC bridging, 802.1x authentication, spanning tree protocols etc.).   
      
   I quite realize that routing protocols are very tightly bound to TCP/IP   
   stack of an operating system; but in my understanding, the Layer2 features I   
   mentioned above, are mainly implemented in hardware, so what would be done   
   in software then, what is the use of such software? Is such a middleware   
   serving as a abstraction layer betwenn ASIC and OS ?   
      
   Thanks in advance.   
      
   --   
   Mark   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)