Inter process communications in a distributed CP and NP environment

An inter process communication (IPC) system providing communication between processors in a network processing environment, comprising:

• the processors in the network processing environment in combination with:
• a) software enabled functions that open and close inter process communication paths for transmitting and receiving of inter process communication frames;
• b) software enabled functions that allow said inter process communication frames to be stacklessly transmitted to one or several processors in said network processing environment;
• c) means for selecting by software either said data or control path in said network processing environment to transmit or receive said inter process communication frames in response to calling an open software transmit/receive IPC path function,
• wherein the inter process communication frames include guided frames, and
• wherein the system allows an end user to decide to transmit information on either a data path or a control path, and
• wherein the processors comprise blades and the system provides for the information exchange between the blades in the network processing environment without requiring and IP stack on each blade.

A method of inter process communication (IPC) between processors in a network processing environment, comprising the steps of:

• a) providing software enabled functions that open and close inter process communication paths for transmitting and receiving of inter process communication frames;
• b) providing software enabled functions that allow said inter process communication frames to be stacklessly transmitted to one or several processors in said network processing environment;
• c) allowing an end user to decide to transmit information on either a data path or a control path;
• and
• d) upon calling an open software transmit/receive IPC path function, selecting by software either said data or control path in said network processing environment to transmit or receive said inter process communication frames,
• wherein the transmitting and receiving of said inter process communication frames occurs synchronously, and
• wherein the processors comprise blades and wherein the information exchange occurs between the blades without requiring an IP stack on each blade.