NeTS: JUNO3: Cloud-Carrier Cooperation for Efficient and Ultra-Reliable Programmable Backbone Networks

University Of California-Davis, Davis CA

Investigators

Abstract

With the emergence of next-generation 5G/6G networks, backbone networks need to evolve to accommodate heterogeneous cloud services with stringent requirements in latency, bandwidth, and reliability. Traditional designs, based on inflexible/monolithic architectures, are challenging for individual carrier/provider networks to achieve ultra-reliable end-to-end communication, especially during resource crunch (due to network congestion or large-scale disasters such as earthquake, tsunami, etc.), when cloud services can be severely disrupted due to failures in both carrier network and cloud infrastructures. In such cases, cooperation among multiple network entities, viz. carriers, Datacenter Providers (DCPs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs), etc., can bring greater benefit in terms of fast and efficient service provisioning vs. relying on individual networks. However, when network and cloud infrastructures are owned by different entities, confidential information, such as detailed network topologies, failure/damage scenario, resource availability, etc., is not disclosed, due to regulatory policies. This calls for a new cooperative framework among multiple stakeholders, such as network operators and service providers, to create a platform for flexible utilization of available and distributed network and compute resources within an integrated network-cloud ecosystem. Such innovation will exploit services of a neutral third-party mediator/broker, called Provider Neutral Exchange (PNE) (similar to Internet exchange points (IXPs) or colocation centers) to facilitate cooperation among multiple entities while preserving information confidentiality. This project will investigate novel network architectures, aided by advanced network programmability, to enable reliable cloud-carrier cooperation in programmable backbone networks. This research will develop new insights to improve US national network infrastructures and provide benefits for Internet users in terms of high availability of critical communications and services at times of resource crunch. This joint National Science Foundation and Japan National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) project will develop a novel cooperation framework among network carriers and service providers for efficient and reliable service provisioning. There are three main research areas of cloud-carrier cooperation: i) Cloud-Carrier-ISP cooperation strategies. Novel cooperation strategies among network carriers, ISPs, and DCPs will be studied to develop an efficient framework for flexible resource sharing and reliable end-to-end service provisioning with the aid of a third-party broker/entity, PNE, while ensuring information confidentiality among different entities. ii) Physical-layer-aware failure management for reliable cooperation. Pre-emptive failure detection mechanisms considering degradation/disconnection at the physical layer and robustness strategies against cascading failures will be developed to ensure reliable cooperation in backbone networks. iii) Reliable Carrier/Management (C/M) plane design for cloud-carrier-ISP cooperation. A reliable C/M-plane architecture for the third-party entity, PNE, will be developed to facilitate cooperation across various entities/domains and a decentralized end-to-end C/M plane will be developed to enable extended integration of network and cloud services. Evaluation of the proposed approaches will be performed using the NICT testbed in Sendai. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.