The Nortel Discovery Protocol (NDP) is a

data link layer The data link layer, or layer 2, is the second layer of the seven-layer OSI model of computer networking. This layer is the protocol layer that transfers data between nodes on a network segment across the physical layer. The data link layer p ...

(OSI Layer 2)

network protocol A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any kind of variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics and synchroniza ...

for discovery of

Nortel Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec, ...

networking devices and certain products from

Avaya Avaya Holdings Corp., often shortened to Avaya (), is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, that provides cloud communications and workstream collaboration services. The company's platform includ ...

and

Ciena Ciena Corporation is an American telecommunications networking equipment and software services supplier based in Hanover, Maryland. The company has been described by ''The Baltimore Sun'' as the "world's biggest player in optical connectivity." T ...

. The device and topology information may be graphically displayed network management software. The Nortel Discovery Protocol had its origin in the SynOptics Network Management Protocol (SONMP), developed before the

SynOptics SynOptics Communications was a Santa Clara, California-based early computer network equipment vendor from 1985 until 1994. SynOptics popularized the concept of the modular Ethernet hub and high-speed Ethernet networking over copper twisted-pair a ...

and

Wellfleet Communications Wellfleet Communications was an Internet Router (computing), router company founded in 1986 by Paul Severino, Bill Seifert, Steven Willis and David Rowe based in Bedford, Massachusetts, and later Billerica, Massachusetts. In an attempt to more e ...

merger in 1994. The protocol was rebranded as the Bay Network Management Protocol (BNMP) and some protocol analyzers referenced it as the ''Bay Discovery Protocol'' (BDP). Four years later, in 1998,

Bay Networks Bay Networks was a network hardware vendor formed through the merger of Santa Clara, California based SynOptics Communications and Billerica, Massachusetts based Wellfleet Communications on July 6, 1994. SynOptics was an important early innovato ...

was acquired by

and renamed it to Nortel Discovery Protocol. The IEEE 802.1AB or

Link Layer Discovery Protocol The Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) is a vendor-neutral link layer protocol used by network devices for advertising their identity, capabilities, and neighbors on a local area network based on IEEE 802 technology, principally wired Ethern ...

that is supported on most Nortel equipment is a standards based (vendor-neutral) protocol that supports multi-vendor environments.Ethernet Switch Software Release 5.0 for Ethernet Routing Switch 5500 family is Available Now
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Historical names

*Bay Discovery Protocol (BDP) *Bay Topology Protocol *Bay Network Management Protocol (BNMP) *Nortel Management MIB (NMM) *Nortel Topology Discovery Protocol (NTDP) *SynOptics Network Management Protocol (SONMP)

References

External links

{{Wiktionarypar, NDP

-Retrieved 29 July 2011 Device discovery protocols Nortel protocols Logical link control

Historical names

References

Further reading

External links