Resource management in hardware systems for programmable network nodes

This Thesis presents a novel network and node architecture developed to overcome the classical trade-off in programmable network design, represented by the golden diamond of performance, flexibility, reliability and openness. Previous work has centered in the first three characteristics, neglecting openness, i. e.: The ability of the network operator to share the management of network services with third parties without endangering the reliability of the network. In this Thesis, the golden diamond is overcome by the introduction of a programmable hardware platform, including security checks, QoS guarantees and access control for off-chip resources directly at the hardware level. The resulting architecture provides quick service introduction and free service management without endangering reliability, with a performance in the Gbps area, representing a one order of magnitude improvement with respect to existing software systems.