News for and about the Internet2 community

[Ryan Bass <>]

Internet2, Indiana University and Stanford University Partner To Create New 
Network Development and Deployment Initiative Based on OpenFlow

First National Scale Production Deployment of OpenFlow to Provide 
Breakthrough Platform for Network and Science Research

Arlington,VA – April 20, 2011 - Internet2, Indiana University and the Clean 
Slate Program at Stanford University have today announced the Network 
Development and Deployment Initiative (“NDDI”), a partnership to create a new 
network platform and complementary software, which together will support 
global scientific research in a revolutionary new way. Through substantial 
investments by each of the partners, the NDDI will yield a new Internet2 
service called the Open Science, Scholarship and Services Exchange (OS3E). 
OS3E and NDDI capabilities will be developed and interconnected with links to 
Europe, Canada, South America and Asia through coordinating international 
partners like CANARIE in Canada, GÉANT in Europe, JGNX in Japan and RNP in 
Brazil with additional service partners to be identified.

Built using the first production deployment of OpenFlow technology to deliver 
“software defined networking” (SDN) capabilities, NDDI will provide a common 
infrastructure that can create multiple virtual networks, allowing network 
researchers to test and experiment with new Internet protocols and 
architectures, and at the same time enabling domain scientists to accelerate 
their active research with collaborators worldwide. The new capabilities 
provided by NDDI and OS3E deliver an unprecedented platform to support 
diverse projects ranging from the global exchanges of massive datasets from 
the Large Hadron Collider, to radio astronomy and climate modeling 
experiments, to large-scale network research initiatives like the National 
Science Foundation’s Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI) 
project.

As the first service developed on the NDDI, Internet2 will introduce the Open 
Science, Scholarship and Services Exchange to offer persistent VLAN services 
and a nationwide layer 2 open exchange capability. The OS3E will connect 
Internet2’s regional network connectors with international exchange points 
and key collaborating partners via a flexible open policy layer 2 network.

“True to Internet2’s mission to advance the state of the art for advanced 
networks, this new partnership represents the largest deployment of software 
defined networking capabilities to date. The open source nature of this 
network initiative extends a brand new platform for production network 
services with the ability to develop an open source development testbed in 
parallel. While the OS3E will be of immediate benefit to scientists, the NDDI 
will introduce major new capabilities for network researchers and other 
academic disciplines in the future. Together these create opportunities for 
global network research and collaboration,” said Dave Lambert, Internet2 
president and CEO.

Developed at Stanford University and University of California Berkeley with 
support from the NSF and a group of industry sponsors, OpenFlow, which 
underpins the NDDI, represents a paradigm shift in networking by enabling SDN 
platforms that provide distributed, fine-grained control for edge-to-edge 
scientific applications. In the past two decades, enormous innovation has 
taken place on top of the Internet architecture including the proliferation 
of email, e-commerce, social networks, cloud computing, and the web. While 
networking technologies have also evolved in this time, more rapid innovation 
is required to ensure viability of future and emerging services. SDN fulfills 
this need by enabling innovation in all kinds of networks — including data 
centers, wide-area telecommunication networks, wireless networks, enterprises 
and in homes — through relatively simple software changes. SDN thus gives 
owners and operators of networks better control over their networks, allowing 
them to optimize network behavior to best serve their and their users needs.

A new instantiation of OpenFlow software developed through the NDDI 
partnership will provide easily provisioned, persistent VLAN capabilities as 
well as the capability for network researchers to request "slices" of the 
network for development purposes. As new technologies are proven inside these 
network research slices, they can be easily transitioned into new production 
services for the Internet2 community. 

"Indiana University is delighted to see the years of basic research and 
investment come together in the NDDI partnership and its first OS3E service,” 
said Brad Wheeler, Indiana University Vice President for Information 
Technology and CIO. “This testbed will advance the frontiers for next 
generation uses of the networks that are so critical to data-intensive 
scholarship and commercial applications.  IU values the deep partnerships, 
persistent vision, and countless efforts that make NDDI a reality.” 

Indiana University (IU) will lead the development of software that allows 
OpenFlow to provide the VLAN and IP network services through the IU Global 
Research Network Operations Center (GlobalNOC). The partnership will also 
leverage IU’s recent NSF grants for the America Connects to Europe (ACE) and 
TransPAC 3 projects to extend the NDDI and OS3E’s global reach into Europe 
and Asia.

“The Internet infrastructure was not designed for continued evolution. 
OpenFlow/SDN will change this. With an OpenFlow/SDN network, owners and 
operators can constantly improve and optimize their network to best serve 
their needs—whether it is a data-center network, a wide-area network, an 
enterprise or a home," said Guru Parulkar, executive director, Clean Slate 
Internet Design Program and consulting professor of electrical engineering at 
Stanford University. “Because NDDI is based on OpenFlow/SDN, researchers will 
for the first time be able to try out new ideas in a nationwide production 
network with real users and real traffic. With NDDI, researchers will be able 
to take part in shaping the future Internet. The Stanford Clean Slate Program 
is delighted to be a partner. We will help create NDDI, and will use it in 
our own research."

To create the NDDI, Internet2 will begin deployment of switches and 
supporting hardware throughout the United States on its existing footprint. 
This deployment will provide access to over 20 regional network connectors 
that serve more than 10 million individual host computers. Initial services 
are anticipated to be available beginning in Fall 2011.

For more information: http://www.internet2.edu/network/ose/ 

About Indiana University
In addition to providing its students one of the nation’s best and most 
advanced computing, networking, and technology support environments, Indiana 
University is an undisputed leader in the development and application of 
information technology through the management of state, national, and 
international research networks; participation in such high performance 
computing initiatives as the National Science Foundation’s TeraGrid and 
FutureGrid; partnerships with other top-tier universities on open source 
software development; and nationally recognized leadership in cybersecurity.

About Internet2

Internet2 is an advanced networking consortium led by the research and 
education community. An exceptional partnership spanning U.S. and 
international institutions who are leaders in the worlds of research, 
academia, industry and government, Internet2 is developing breakthrough 
cyberinfrastructure technologies that support the most exacting applications 
of today—and spark the most essential innovations of tomorrow. Led by its 
members and focused on their current and future networking needs since 1996, 
Internet2 blends its human, IP and optical networks to develop and deploy 
revolutionary Internet technologies. Activating the same partnerships that 
produced today’s Internet, the Internet2 community is forging the Internet of 
the future. For more information, see http://www.internet2.edu. 

About the Clean Slate Program at Stanford University

The Clean Slate Program seeks to reinvent Internet infrastructure and 
services by creating "platforms for innovations" in networking, computing, 
and storage and making them available to research and user communities with 
emphasis on mobile computing.

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CONTACT:

Ryan Bass
Internet2, Marketing and PR Manager
202-331-5342

 

Julie A. Wernert
Manager, External IT Communications and Media Relations 
Office of the Vice President for Information Technology and CIO
Indiana University
812-856-5517