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FEDERICA Kick off meeting New EC project to "slice up" computer networks for research

28/01/2008 - Researchers wishing to conduct disruptive experiments, that will shape the future Internet and other computer network infrastructures, will soon have a safe and flexible "environment" for their work. A new European project called FEDERICA will create "slices" of network infrastructure, which can be allocated to researchers as a virtual resource for their experiments.

The Federated E-infrastructure Dedicated to European Researchers Innovating in Computing network Architectures project - known as FEDERICA - was launched on 1 January 2008 and will run for two and a half years.

A Unique Approach

In its first phase, the project will focus on creating the Europe-wide experimental infrastructure, and on developing and testing mechanisms that achieve virtualisation, or "slicing", of the network resources, as well as mechanisms to control these processes.

The combination of virtualisation techniques with network control mechanisms is a unique aspect of the FEDERICA project. The concept of running virtual overlay networks, for example Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), is well established, but FEDERICA will also enable researchers to access the lower network layers in order to allow specific parts of the physical substrate to be allocated as virtual resources.

The second phase of the project will implement a 'tool-bench' that will integrate these mechanisms in order to support more automated on-demand allocation of "slices" to researchers.

The tool-bench will ultimately enable control of resources across multiple domains, allowing the FEDERICA concept to be extended to communities beyond the European research and education sector, which is the primary target user group.

Experimental users

Users of the FEDERICA infrastructure will include individual researchers, PhD students, groups in universities or research centres, EC project participants and equipment manufacturers' research laboratories. Their research will not just use the network as a tool, but primarily as the subject of their work. Training for users is also included in the project.

FEDERICA's experimental network infrastructure will be neutral as to the types of protocols, services and applications that may be tested, while allowing disruptive experiments to take place without adverse effect on existing production networks.

FEDERICA held its initial meeting in Rome, Italy, from 17-18 January 2008. The project infrastructure is expected to be operational by around September 2008.

FEDERICA website: http://www.fp7-federica.eu/

FURTHER INFORMATION:

The FEDERICA infrastructure will use the Points of Presence (PoP) of the pan-European GÉANT2 network, as well as those of participating National Research and Education Networks (NRENs).

Using the NRENs' and GÉANT2 networks will create a long-distance, multi-domain infrastructure that will provide a real-world environment for undertaking end-to-end network experiments.

The FEDERICA infrastructure will cover a significant part of Europe through participating NRENs, although access can be granted to any user with an Internet connection. Furthermore, FEDERICA will establish connections with other similar infrastructures such as the PlanetLab overlay network, the NSF GENI initiative in the United States, NREN testbeds, and telco experimental facilities. While the initial testing phase will be limited to selected users, the infrastructure will be made available to other EC projects during the final year of the project.

The FEDERICA project started on 1 January 2008 and runs until 30 June 2010.

The project represents a total investment of EUR 5,178,111. The European Union’s Integrated Infrastructure Initiative (http://cordis.europa.eu/infrastructures/i3.htm) has funded 71% of this.

PARTNERS:

FEDERICA involves twenty-one partners from the academic, research and commercial sectors, coordinated by the Italian national research network organisation Consortium GARR:

Consortium GARR (Italy); CESNET (Czech Republic); DANTE (based in UK); DFN (Germany); FCCN (Portugal); GRNET (Greece); HEAnet (Ireland); HUNGARNET (Hungary); Fundació i2CAT (Spain); ICCS (Greece); Juniper Networks (USA); KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden); Martel Consulting (Switzerland); NORDUnet (based in Denmark); Politecnico di Torino (Italy); PSNC (Poland); Red.es/RedIRIS (Spain); Siemens AG; SWITCH (Switzerland); TERENA (based in Netherlands); UPC (Spain).

More detailed information about the partners is available on the FEDERICA project website - http://www.fp7-federica.eu/partners.php

CONTACTS:

Mauro Campanella (GARR)
Mauro.Campanella@garr.it

Vassilis Maglaris
maglaris@netmode.ntua.gr

Kevin Meynell(TERENA)
meynell@terena.org

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