Successful Past Projects Related to Network Research
Internet2 is dedicated to support of network research and the examination of new network architectures and technologies. As demands for new features or greater network performance emerge, new and innovative ideas are needed to support development of the network of the future. Over the past few years, Internet2 has investigated new ideas in network architecture and technology, working closely with research groups and projects that examined new and innovative ideas. Successful past projects include:
The Abilene Observatory The Abilene Observatory was a project that supported network research on the old Abilene network by providing researchers with the capability to collocate equipment on the Abilene backbone and to access a large database of network attributes. Many different types of data were collected on the network and made available via web interfaces. Over 25 research projects used the Observatory for experimental projects, including studies on the theory of flows, routing algorithms, and identification of traffic patterns. This project has been expanded and replaced by the Internet2 Observatory.
The Hybrid Optical and Packet Infrastructure (HOPI) project was dedicated to looking at new and innovative ideas for future network architectures. A design team consisting of network engineers and researchers from the Internet2 community was assembled to create a testbed to examine new architectures for next generation networks. The design team wrote a white paper describing a testbed that would examine circuit- and packet-switched infrastructures including elements of dynamic provisioning. A summary of the whitepaper was then produced, along with a summary presentation.
The MAN LAN Optical Facility
The MAN LAN Optical Facility is a Layer-1 exchange point located in New York City that continues to participate in the Global Lambda Integration Facility (GLIF). The GLIF is an international collaboration to bring Layer-1 capabilities to the research and education community on a world-wide basis. The MAN LAN Facility provides both production and experimental capabilities including the ability to dynamically provision circuits. The MAN LAN exchange point provides connectivity between international research and education networks, including federal networks supporting high-performance scientific applications.
The MAN LAN Facility also provided a resource for the HOPI project, described above.
The goal of the Next-Generation Architecture Project was to to examine possible new network architectures for Internet2. The Abilene network was the Internet2 backbone through September of 2007. Allowing two years for implementation, the decision on the next generation architecture had to be made by December 2005. The transport to support that architecture, and the choice of hardware, had to follow by March and June, respectively. That allowed only 18 months to transition to the new network. Several other projects provided important ideas for the next generation network, including the HOPI project and the MAN LAN Optical Facility.
The Network Research Facilitation ProjectThe Network Research Facilitation Project (NRFP) has supported the network research community by supplying equipment to researchers that was no longer used in Internet2 infrastructure. As an example, the last Abilene upgrade (that included installation of new routers) made 11 Cisco GSR routers available for use by the research community. These routers have been distributed on a yearly basis through a proposal process organized by Internet2. Additional equipment will be added to the project as it becomes available.
