Toronto Networking Seminar 2005


Moving Application-Driven Networking into the Optical Layer: A Case for Network Control Plane and Extensible Services-on-Demand

Admela Jukan
INRS/Université du Quebec, Montreal

Date:  November 4,  3pm
Location: BA1210,  Bahen Center


Abstract

Large-scale, data-intensive, and real-time applications for E-science represent a new generation of applications that combine distributed scientific instruments, data archives, sensors, and computing resources to solve complex scientific problems. To support global E-science applications and Grid computing, significant research activity has been carried out aiming at redefining the broad role of networking and, in particular, understanding the intelligent use of the vast bandwidth of fiber optic networks. In contrast to the common belief, however, the use of optical networks for E-science is not about installing dedicated high-speed connections between remote research centers; instead, it is how these connections are utilized by the driving applications. This presentation will address the evolutionary progress and visionary roadmap in application-driven networking within the optical layer, focusing on novel paradigms for network control plane and extensible services-on-demand. Several important new design principles will be highlighted. First, end-to-end optical connections now extend from traditional network elements to the application end-points, such as sensors, instruments, CPU and storage. Second, the coordination of heterogeneous computing resources is based on near-real-time network feedback, posing significant design challenges for signaling, provisioning and fault-tolerant operation. Finally, the convergence of optical networks, Internet and applications - with combined control and management - is driving the network beyond an isolated technology and towards a cohesive and configurable communication infrastructure. During the presentation, recent developments in the telecommunication industry and Grid computing will be discussed, along with trends and future research directions.

Bio:

Admela Jukan received the M.Sc. degree in Information Technologies and Computer Science from the Polytechnic of Milan, Italy, and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Habilitation degree (venia legendi) in Communication Networks, from the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Austria. She is currently Associate Professor at INRS/Univ of Quebec in Montreal and she is also Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC). Prior to joining UIUC, she served as Program Director in Computer and Networks System Research at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Arlington, VA, and she was Research Assistant Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA. While at NSF, she was responsible for funding and coordinating US-wide university research, education and technology transfer activities in the area of network technologies and systems. For seven years, she has been with the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, first as Assistant Professor and then as University Lecturer.  In 1999 and 2000, she was Visiting Scientist at Bell Labs, NJ.  Dr. Jukan is the author of numerous papers in the field of networking, and she has authored and edited several books. Her work has produced seminal contributions to the field, and she is recognized for having introduced the concept of Quality-of-Service and constraint-based routing in optical networks. She is the recipient of numerous research grants in Europe and in the US, and she also received the Best Innovative Research Award of the Vienna Academic Anniversary Foundation, in 1999, and the Best Research Proposal Award from Sprint, in 2002. She serves as a member of the Quality Assurance Committee of the Network of Excellence research initiative, currently the largest pan-European research program. Dr. Jukan has chaired and co-chaired several international conferences and she is a Liaison Editor of the IEEE Communication Magazine Feature Topic on Optical Control Plane for the Grid Community: Opportunities, Issues and Vision, to appear in March 2006.