3com Corporation

Derry M O'Donoghue

Eoin O'Brien

Neil J Clifford

Annette E Sohor

A network unit includes a forwarding database which includes entries relating packet addresses to forwarding data and is operative to form linked chains of entries wherein the entries in a chain represent different packet addresses which are reduced by hashing to the same pointer for the database. A seed for a hashing algorithm is provided by a combination, such as an exclusive-OR combination, of part of an input address word and a selected word. Hashing is preferably performed in at least two cycles, wherein in one cycle a hash function is applied to a portion of the input address not including the part which is combined with the selected word to constitute a hash seed and in another (preceding) cycle a further part of the address and the aforementioned hash seed are subject the hash function. The selected word may be a software programmable mask and it is possible thereby to ensure a high degree of randomness in the hash seed and to reduce the incidence of convergence of different addresses to a common pointer.

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Dublin, Ireland

Derry M O'Donoghue