Active networks allow customized processing of data traffic within the network which can be used by applications to improve the quality of their sessions. To simplify development of active applications in a heterogeneous environment, we propose active network pipes as a programming abstraction to specify transmission and processing requirements. We describe a routing algorithm that maps application session requirements onto network resources and determines an optimal route through the network transiting all required processing sites. Additionally, we propose a network software architecture to implement the functionality required to support active pipes
