The convergence technology is based on research conducted at SRI International. The Diffusing Update Algorithm (DUAL) is the algorithm used to obtain loop-freedom at every instant throughout a route computation. This allows all routers involved in a topology change to synchronize at the same time. Routers that are not affected by topology changes are not involved in the recomputation. The convergence time with DUAL rivals that of any other existing routing protocol.
EIGRP has been extended to be network-layer-protocol independent, thereby allowing DUAL to support other protocol suites.