The Versatile Interface Processor 2 (VIP2) is a highly configurable, RISC-based, intelligent interface processor. Up to two separate port adapters (PAs) can be configured on each VIP2, enabling the customer to optimize the VIP2 and system configurations in terms of price, performance, and density. PAs provide the media-specific interfaces for the VIPs, and can support specialized processing engines for high-bandwidth compression and encryption applications.A key feature of the VIP2 is its ability to receive route information from the master Route Switch Processor (RSP) - the system's central processing engine - or RSP7000. Based on this route data, a VIP2 can make its own Layer 3 switching decisions, providing a scaleable, distributed switching architecture, called Distributed Switching and its scales packet processing throughput of a VIP2-equipped router. In addition, resources for route policy and administration are increased by off-loading the central processor of packet handling tasks.