Fuzzball: The Innovative Router

Routers, sometimes referred to as gateways or switches, are combinations of hardware and software that convey packets along the right paths through the network, based on their addresses and the levels of congestion on alternative routes. As with most Internet hardware and software, routers were developed and evolved along with packet switching and inter-network protocols.

NSFNET represented a major new challenge, however, because it connected such a diverse variety of networks. The person who did more than anyone else to enable networks to talk to each other was NSF grantee David L. Mills of the University of Delaware. Mills developed the Fuzzball software for use on NSFNET, where its success led to ever broader use throughout the Internet. The Fuzzball is actually a package comprising a fast, compact operating system, support for the DARPA/NSF Internet architecture, and an array of application programs for network protocol development, testing, and evaluation.

Why the funny name? Mills began his work using a primitive version of the software that was already known as the "fuzzball." Nobody knows who first called it that, or why. But everyone appreciates what it does.