transparent inter process communication (TIPC)

Transparent Inter Process Communication (TIPC) is a communication port protocol developed by Ericsson that is specifically suited for communication in clusters and network elements operating with different operating systems. It equally supports communication of network components combining traditional and real-time operating systems. The cluster presents itself in the communication like a single computer.

For TIPC, the network presents itself in five layers. The top TIPC level is the node, which is formed by all computers and communicates with each other through TIPC. To this level, any node can communicate with any other using the TIPC network address.

The next level in the TIPC hierarchy is called Instance Zone and represents the highest level of transparency within the TIPC network. The following, third level is called Cluster and connects multiple nodes to each other, each to each, using one or two TIPC connections. The next level down is the individual system node of which a TIPC network can have up to 2,047 in a cluster. And the lowest level is the slave node. The slave nodes have the same functionality in terms of transparency and availability, but do not have the same physical connections as the other clusters.

Comparedto the TCP/ IP protocol, the TIPC protocol is characterized by significantly higher speed, lossless data transmission and location transparency. Due to the decentralized processing, applications on any processor can transparently access the system services and hardware resources of another processor.