Date: Wed, 29 Nov 1995 16:53:03 -0800 (PST)
To: p8021@nic.hep.net
From: jfw@alantec.com (John Wakerly)
Subject: Technical Contributions for January Interim Meeting

Hello, Mick et al.,

On the assumption that there has been an explicit or implicit call
for technical contributions for the January Interim Meeting,
I would like to submit two contributions:

1) An Efficient Frame-Tagging Format for VLANs

2) Forwarding Methods for VLAN-Tagged Frames in a Bridged LAN

Each talk requires at most 15 minutes, but additional time
would be needed for questions/discussion if the talks are
successful in stimulating such.

In the spirit of open exploration that has characterized the
group so far, I would like to assert that these talks are not
intended to "put the cart before the horse", and certainly
are not even at a "proposal" stage.  In particular, they are
not a pitch for or against a particular VLAN style or set of
styles.

However, the first talk has the potential to change the way we 
think about the ease or difficulty with which frames can be tagged,
and would be appropriate to present before we get into any discussion
of the pros and cons of tagging in general, or of a particular tagging
format.

The second talk describes a possible forwarding methodology for tagged
VLAN frames in a bridged LAN, and its effect on trunks/interswitch links,
hybrid links, spanning tree, scaling, and the like.  My hope is that
like the first talk, it will provide some technical food for thought 
in these areas.

Both of these talks represent original ideas (as far as I know) that 
we haven't discussed before, and which are not embodied or proposed
in any products that I know of.

Looking forward to the January meeting....

J