Advancing GENI Campus Implemention

Educause, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

University network facilities, both those dedicated to research and those that support core institutional activities, play a very important role in the Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI) project. Campus networks pose interesting and unique challenges. GENI expects networked university research facilities to exploit existing university networks using linkage mechanisms that permit the use of experimental protocols down to the lowest layers in the stack and nodes that are programmable by experimenters, all without disrupting production use of the same networks. Deploying such infrastructure in a campus environment requires close coordination with university IT departments. This award funds a workshop with researchers, campus network leaders, and GENI and NSF staff to address concrete campus implementation options. Meeting invitees will be among the top experts in higher-education networking and information technology, representing universities across the country. The purpose of the proposed meeting and other activities is to promote effective, efficient communication between the GENI staff and higher education CIO community. The report from this meeting will assist GENI in determining the most effective means for connecting the higher education research community to any future, experimental network infrastructure. The meeting will have broader impacts of at least three types. First, it will lay the foundation for much more capable networking than the current Internet protocols can support. Second, it will enhance the ability of researchers to interact with network operators in ways that balance robustness and flexibility. Third, it will enable EDUCAUSE to disseminate information and conclusions from the meeting to a broader constituency, thus, helping them to contemplate future networking opportunities more efficiently.