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Presentation

Myths, Missteps, and Mysteries in routing/bridging/switching

October 16, 2026

Presenters

Radia Perlman - Dell Technologies

Description

Abstract. Why do we need both IP and Ethernet?  The obvious answer is that Ethernet is “layer 2” and IP is “layer 3”.  In this talk we argue that Ethernet today is a layer 3 protocol, because it involves a lot of links, with switches that forward packets between the links.  So, why can’t we simply hook everything together with IP routers and eliminate “Ethernet”?  This talk explains how we got here, and how networks would be much simpler if the industry didn’t make a really bad decision in 1992.

Presented at

Crypto Reading Club talk on 2026-Oct-16

Parent Project

See: Crypto Reading Club

Related Topics

Security and Privacy: cryptography

Technologies: internet

Created October 05, 2026, Updated October 08, 2026