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Task 1: Network Evolution, Design and Technology Planning

The purpose of Task 1 of SA1 is to assess and determine how the GÉANT network should evolve over time and develop solutions, designs and high-level plans for the evolution of the network. This task will work closely with other GÉANT activities to plan the future of GÉANT network to adopt new technologies, architectures and ways of operating networks that they are researching.

Objectives for GN4 year 1

Subtask 1

Further develop the GÉANT network evolution plan.

Establish a work plan and engagement framework with the other networking project activates to ensure research and service development activity is relevant and priorities are established to ensure research and service development outputs align with technical and operational priorities of this activity and NREN needs. The engagement framework will be established to improve insight in new networking technologies and facilitate a greater sharing of the collective knowledge across all networking project activities.

Revise GÉANT network design documentation to ensure they stay current and accurate and reflect all changes to the design of the IP/MPLS and optical platforms.

Continually evaluate the GEANT network architecture including collaboration with NRENs on the location and need for GEANT network equipment in NREN territories to determine the optimum number, type and location of GEANT PoPs.

Design a network technology and operational capability for the purposes of verification testing new technologies and operational arrangements away from the production network. This will be known as the GEANT network and operational verification capability (GNOVC).  This will support network evolution and service development and for the development, evaluation and testing of GÉANT network platform enhancements that might be useful in production. It will represent physical infrastructure and an operational capability to support SA1 and the other networking project activities.

Conduct technology assessments and new iterations of the current network using the GNOVC. Document if beneficial to GEANT how these innovations could be used in production.

Investigate the use case and implementation scenarios for Science DMZ; an optimized part of the network for high-performance science applications and work with other project activities to align thinking in this area. Involve NRENs, end sites, large computing centres with appropriate equipment and liaise with suppliers of 100G NICs and servers (probably also storage and local network equipment) and with the international R&E partners. Attend showcases at conferences (Supercomputing, TNC, Internet2 Technology Exchange) and extend knowledge base for eduPERT.

Establish a workplan and engagement framework with Infinera for development of future DTNx capabilities making use of PCP to obtain beta releases and preferential commercial terms. To run technology trials to determine the benefits to GEANT of any new platform enhancements and document how these could be implemented in production. Examples might be OTS and packet TIM.

Establish a workplan and engagement framework with Juniper/Imtech for development of a single domain and multidomain SDN solution. To run technology trials to determine the benefits to GEANT of any new platform enhancements and document how these could be implemented in production.

Support and enhance the use of federated network resources and assets between GÉANT, NRENs and R&E partners in order to efficiently share infrastructure.

To improve transparency and understanding amongst GEANT community of GEANT network architecture, topology, capability and future plans.

Subtask 2

Contracts for the GÉANT network dark fibre routes expire in 2020 & 2021. Cost prohibitive contract termination fees prevent ceasing the majority of the fibre routes before 2018. A detailed investigation needs to be started in GN4 year 1 to assess what layer 1 infrastructure is required if any and where for the future iteration of the GEANT network beyond 2020 and if the existing fibre can be replaced with more economical infrastructure after 2018. The study will need to determine how much this new  / replacement infrastructure is going to cost so affordability can be established and the necessary reserves accrued.

With the majority of European NRENs operating their own national fibre networks and as a small number of NRENs have or are building duplicate fibre infrastructure to the existing GEANT fibre network SA1 T1 in GN4 year 1, will investigate how European NREN operated infrastructure can be used and establish where the gaps are in that infrastructure that need to be filled by NREN investment or by commercial infrastructure.  SA1 T1 will establish the different optical platforms that exist now or that will exist in 2018 and undertake to investigate the GEANT Infinera optical platform’s ability to share that optical infrastructure. Establishing a program of vendor engagement and technology trials to conduct in GN4 year 2. The task will also establish if there is a need for a low cost scalable optical solution for the edges of the GÉANT network that have lower capacity requirements where the current Infinera DTNx 4/10 solution is not cost effective or suitable and where solutions based on “own optical transmission” capability make overall sense.

This study will be conducted so new service and future capacity needs are considered to determine the likely volume of capacity required between NRENs to justify the operation of fibre or appropriate wavelength capacity.  

The study will be conducted with affordability and technical and operational suitability as core principles to ensure costs are appropriate for the type of connectivity required and to ensure where possible NREN infrastructure is used.

The output from this study will be the following;

• List of optical vendors used by NRENs from 2018 onwards
• Comprehensive map of European NREN layer 1 infrastructure
• Options for how that infrastructure could be utilised and the gaps that need to be filled to replace existing GEANT fibre routes in 2018 and a plan to take into GN4 year 2 to establish the viability of those options to deliver a recommendation for approval in GN4 year 3.
• A plan to take into GN4 year 2 to establish the long-term requirement for layer 1 connectivity to deliver a recommendation for approval in GN4 year 3.

The GEANT network transports multiple types of traffic and this traffic can be divide into two. Traffic that does and does not require high performance (throughput, latency, availability, packet loss) infrastructure. A study will be conducted in GN4 year 1 by SA1 T1 to investigate the viability of utilising commercially available services to carry non-performance critical research traffic, to enable a reduction in required high performance infrastructure. This study will engagement with Europe’s major service providers both on a pan European and national scale to determine if a commercially viable service can be acquired to replace GEANT network infrastructure to lower the overall costs of the network. If cost effective solutions exist that would be acceptable to users then a pilot will be developed to run in GN4 year 2 focusing on both a pan European solution and national solutions.

For comparison to layer 1 and commercial solutions a study will be conducted in GN4 year 1 to investigate the viability of a multi domain NREN transit network to enable NREN to NREN traffic to be switched or routed across existing national networks. If viable a pilot will be developed to run in GN4 year 2 focusing on a pan European solution. The principle being that neighbouring NRENs will interconnect at layer 2 and or 3 and create a transit network to transport traffic effectively across multiple domains. For example GARR traffic destined for JANET would route across RENATERs network and DFN traffic to Portugal would route across RENATERs and RedIRIS’s networks to get to FCCN. This study would work inconjunction with JRA1&2 to investigate ways of integrating the GEANT and NREN domains to create a more cohesive operational and service domain. The use of SDN in this arrangement would need to be a serious consideration.

With the establishment of the Advanced North Atlantic 100Gpbs ring and with the work being led in the Global Network Architecture initiative GEANT must take a leadership role in the planning of international R&E connectivity and infrastructure. In GN4 year 1 SA1 T1 will establish a work plan and engagement framework with other project activities and international R&E partners to define GEANTs international connectivity requirements and determine what international infrastructure GEANT will require over the next 5 years. The use of regional hubs / open exchange points to aggregate international connectivity will need to be assessed as will the willingness of NRENs outside Europe to share connectivity to Europe. This study would then feed into GNA.

 Work Plan sub task 1

Work Plan sub task 2