Traditional IP packet forwarding analyzes the （  ）IP address contained in the network layer header of each packet as the packet travels from its source to its final destination. A router analyzes the destination IP address independently at each hop in the network. Dynamic （  ）protocols or static configuration builds the database needed to analyze the destination IP address （the routing table）.The process of implementing traditional IP routing also is called hop-by-hop destination-based （  ）routing. Although successful，and obviously widely deployed，certain restrictions，which have been realized for some time，exist for this method of packet forwarding that diminish is （  ）. New techniques are therefore required to address and expand the functionality of an IP-based network infrastructure.This first chapter concentrates on identifying these restrictions and presents a new archiecture，known as multiprotocol （  ）switching，that provides solutions some of these restrictions.