Active networks provide an ideal support for the incorporation of intelligent behaviors into networks. This ones make possible to introduce a more general functionality, that supports the dynamic modification of the behavior of switching networks. By means of this approach, users can dynamically insert code into nodes, thus adding new capabilities. In this paper we propose a protocol to improve network services, implemented from the point of view of active networks. The specific purpose of the

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... rotocol is to reduce the network traffic, thus increasing the ratio of the volume of transmitted data to the number of frames that pass through the network. More precisely, we intend to merge data coming from the same node or from different nodes in intermediate points of the path toward the receiver, so that they arrive as closely grouped as possible. This would reduce the congestion in networks that support a great volume of traffic, like those that are used in industrial environments, which can also suffer from a low bandwidth. For the implementation of this protocol we use ANTS {Active Node Transport System), a freeware tools for the construction of active networks developed by MlT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology). ANTS makes use of one of the most innovative and daring approaches for injecting programs into active nodes, by means of a mobile code called capsules.