User-safe devices for true end-to-end QoS
Ian A. Pratt · 2002
User-safe devices are a little smarter than your average device. They implement some of the functionality traditionally found in device drivers within the device itself. This provides a number of performance benefits, particularly for devices attached to I/O networks. User-safe devices are serious about quality of service. They can provide the guarantees that applications require in order to behave predictably on a loaded system. This paper describes user-safe devices, and the role they play in the University of Cambridge's experimental multimedia workstation.