Project Overview

The DOE has been actively deploying a wide range of networking technologies to meet the needs of its scientists, particularly in carrying out large-scale science computations and experiments. However, as large scale science demands continue to grow, there is a pressing need to achieve multi-service provisioning across multiple domains and a hybrid set of networking layers. This project focuses on this crucial area and is working on the development of novel end-to-end provisioning architectures and solutions for multi-layer networks. The project is a colloboration between co-principal investigators (co-PI’s), Dr. N. Ghani (University of New Mexico), Mr. T. Lehman (University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute East), and Dr. R. Summerhill (Internet2). In addition, Dr. N. Rao (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) and Mr. C. Guok (ESNet/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) will also collaborate on the proposed activities as part of their ongoing projects.

Although various (above-mentioned) DOE and NSF initiatives/testbeds have made significant progress in the development and deployment of next-generation networks, their focus has generally been confined to the specific infrastructures and technologies typically under single domain environments. This project seeks to consolidate and extend the results of these individual projects into a more unified, holistic architecture and capability development activity. This broader view is required: 1) to develop capabilities for peering and interoperation across the variety of hybrid networks for DOE large-scale science applications; 2) to systematically evaluate the performance, cost, and operational issues of operating in a multi-domain, multi-layer, multi-service network environment; and 3) to provide decisions makers with the necessary information to make judgments regarding next-generation "production" hybrid networks.

This project includes investigation of dynamic end-to-end provisioning in both packet-switching/routed IP cores and "circuit-switched" domains. Additionally, the multi-layer concept implies that end-to-end paths will embody a concatenation and/or hierarchical nesting of multiple “circuit” entities, which can be instantiated via different means, e.g., MPLS label switched paths (LSP) across an IP network, an Ethernet VLAN-based topology, SONET TDM circuits, or directly over DWDM lambda waves. This implies both vertical (technology layers) and horizontal (multi-domain) inter-working.

Additional details on the project and technologies are provided via the links to the left.