Deploying commercial high performance network devices to construct a programmable AN platform Supporting customizable network intelligences Supporting excellent AN-specific research projects Addressing AN and optical networking issues

1. Active Nets Technology Transfer
through High-Performance Network
Devices
Dec. 3-5, 2001 1
Tal Lavian - tlavian@ieee.org
Nortel Networks
Advanced Technology Labs
Open Source - http://www.openetlab.org
DARPA AN PI Meeting

2. Dec. 3-5, 2001 2
Agenda
• Our Mission
• Technology Transfer
• Challenges and Solution
• Our Works
• New Targets
• Summary
DARPA AN PI Meeting

3. Our Mission
• Developing enabling mechanisms for the AN technology
transition and Knowledge transfer
• Finding good industry relevance research and
technologies and incorporating them into future
products
• Deploying commercial high performance network
devices to construct a programmable AN platform
Dec. 3-5, 2001 3
— Supporting customizable network intelligences
— Supporting excellent AN-specific research projects
— Addressing AN and optical networking issues
DARPA AN PI Meeting

4. • A major Carrier is interested in some aspects of the
research and technologies incubated by the AN
community 
• The main value is to role out new services – and fast
• Unfortunately - the current market condition slowed
down the interest (great direction – but no money now)

Dec. 3-5, 2001 4
1st Expl: Collaboration with a Major
Carrier
DARPA AN PI Meeting

5. Dec. 3-5, 2001 5
2nd : AN Collaboration:
CeNTIE – CSRIO-Nortel
DARPA AN PI Meeting
Tele-Health Focus Group
• Royal Australian College of Surgeons
• Medic Vision
• University of Sydney
• NSW Health
• Royal Prince Alfred
• Interactive Virtual Environment Centre
(IVEC).
• Centre for Medical and Surgical Skills
(CTEC).
Media Systems Focus Group
• Fox Studios
• Animal Logic
• GMD
• Ambience
• Film Industry Broadband Resource
Enterprise (FIBRE)
• WAM!NET
• Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
• ScreenWest
Center for Networking Technologies for
Information Economy (CeNTIE) - a
CSIRO-led consortium including Nortel
Networks, Amcom Telecommunications,
the UNSW, UTS and the WA Interactive
Virtual Environments Centre (IVEC).
www.centie.net

6. State PPI Cluster
Rail ???
Dec. 3-5, 2001 6
CeNTIE in Sydney
Crows Nest
DARPA AN PI Meeting
CSIRO
Marsfield
UTS
ABC Ultimo
Australian
Technology
Park (AC3) Uni Syd UNSW
Fujitsu
CSIRO
Macquarie Uni
Fox
Studios
CSIRO
North Ryde
ABC Gore Hill
RNS
hospital
CSIRO
NML
PPI Cluster
EPPING
Station
Redfern
Station
ECTECH
Core CeNTIE Nodes
Core CeNTIE Network
Possible extensions

7. Challenge 1: IInnffiinniittee BBaannddwwiiddtthh
Why this change the playground?
• 3-4 orders of magnitudes bandwidth growth in many
dimensions
– Core – Optical bandwidth - (155mbps ® 1Tbps)
– LAN – (10mbps ® 10Gbps)
– Access – Cable, DSL, 3G – (28kbps®10mbps, 1.5mbps, 384kbps)
• Silicon Wire-speed routing
• How to benefit from these valuable resources? For
example: streaming media on the net?
Dec. 3-5, 2001 7
– Peer to Peer – driving bandwidth
– Streaming video, multicast, video is coming
– Web traffic will be minor (streaming is constant)
DARPA AN PI Meeting

8. Challenge 2: Programmable NNeettwwoorrkkiinngg
• The streaming media demand & the infinite
bandwidth drives the need for programmability and
dynamic services on the net
• Need programmability on commercial devices to
address this challenge since software based routers
cannot address it adequately.
• However, unlike Linux routers and software based
routers, software cannot be added to the data plane
Dec. 3-5, 2001 8
—Data plane : Wire speed silicon forwarding, multi Gigabit
—Control plane :
– Can’t see the data in wire speed.
– Can dynamically modify the silicon knobs
DARPA AN PI Meeting

9. Our Solution: PPrrooggrraammmmaabbllee
SSeerrvviicceess
• Service-enablement will prove most effective where
“impedance mismatches” occur in the network
Dec. 3-5, 2001 9
— Optical vs. Wireline (3-4 oom)
— Wireline vs. wire-less (3-4 oom)
— Secure vs. non-secure
— Customer-premises vs. Content-provider-land (3-4 oom)
— SLA (x) vs. SLA (y)
— Resource-constrained vs. unwashed unlimited computing
• A service-enabled box can wear multiple hat
DARPA AN PI Meeting
oom – Order of Magnitude

10. Dec. 3-5, 2001 10
DARPA AN PI Meeting
Our Works
• We have implemented programmable Gigabit Routing
Switch (backplane 256 Gbs)
• AN in the control plane (slows down in the data
plane)
• Capable of dynamic monitoring and modification of
silicon knobs
— The granularity is streams and not packets
— Short time granularity (part of apps and not human intervention,
keyboard, telnet, cli, snmp)
• Enabling New Types of intelligence on
programmable network device to handle Infinite
Bandwidth resources, Wire speed routing capability,
and nontrivial Streaming media application.

11. Forwarding
Rules
Dec. 3-5, 2001 11
Control Plane ORE
System Services
CPU System
Switching Fabric
Forwarding
Rules
DARPA AN PI Meeting
Data Plane
(Wire Speed Forwarding)
Active Services
Traffic Packets
Monitor status New rules
Openet
Forwarding
Rules
Forwarding
Processor
Statistics
&Monitors
Forwarding . . .
Processor
Statistics
&Monitors
Forwarding
Processor
Statistics
&Monitors
Active Networks
Services

12. • Openet on Passport IP routing switch
• ORE ANTS implementation on commercial devices
• Experiments
MIT ANTS MIT ANTS
Dec. 3-5, 2001 12
ANTS on Passport
Openet
(Passport Routing Switch)
ORE
ANTS
Download
codes
DARPA AN PI Meeting
Destination Host
(Sun Workstation 1)
HTTP server
(Linux PC)
Source Host
(Sun Workstation 2)
Intranet Intranet
10.120.101.50 10.120.101.51
Linux PC
(Ping use only)
Linux PC
(Ping use only)
APing
Ping

13. Dec. 3-5, 2001 13
Active Flow Manipulation
DARPA AN PI Meeting
Forwarding
Processor
Forwarding
Processor
Packet
Policy
Filters
AFM
Packet
Filte
r
Packet
Action
• A key enabling
technology of Openet
• Two abstractions
— Primitive flows
— Primitive actions
• Customer network
services exercise active
network control
— Identifying specific flows
— Apply actions to alter
network behavior in real-time

14. Dec. 3-5, 2001 14
DARPA AN PI Meeting
New Targets
• Limitations in our past works
— L2-L4 filtering
— limited embedded CPU workhorse
— Unsecured service deployment
• Exploring new commercial network hardware
— L2-L7 filtering
— Fast content filtering and redirection
— Strong and extensible CPU capability
— Secure partitioning hardware and software
— Supporting heterogeneous EEs
• New Active Net network platform
• Collaboration with UC Berkeley and University of
Technology, Sydney (UTS)

15. Target 1: Openet on a commercial
content switch
• Openet on Alteon
— L2-L7 filtering
— Fast content filtering and redirection to active services
— Enhancing and complementing Alteon features
• Alteon: Our new AN platform on content switch
Dec. 3-5, 2001 15
— Multiple processors and ASICs
— Programmable microcode
— L2-L4 and application filtering and processing
DARPA AN PI Meeting

16. Target 2: New Active Net Platform
• iSD: powerful and extensible computational plane
Dec. 3-5, 2001 16
— Partitioning hardware and software resources
— Securely supporting heterogeneous EEs
— Close interfaces to Alteon
— Cluster computations
• New Active Net Platform: 3 in 1
— Openet: active service enabling
— Alteon: content filtering in real-time
— iSD: active services accommodation
DARPA AN PI Meeting
iSD
L2-L7
filtering
Content
processing
Power
computing
OPE
Passport Alteon Optical
Local
Core
Openet –Active Services

17. Dec. 3-5, 2001 17
DARPA AN PI Meeting
Summary
• Openet – our Networking Programmability
• Commercial network programmable hardware
— Alteon: AN platform on an advanced content switch
— iSD: powerful & extensible computation plane
• New AN platform: Openet + Alteon + iSD
• Enables AN technologies transfer 
• Need to wait for better economy 