CANEs: an execution environment for composable services

Active networks represent a change in network paradigm from a static, one-size-fits-all packet-transport service to a flexible platform capable of being programmed to provide new services. Active networks will allow rapid deployment of new and complex network services. An important property of an active network API is the support it provides for composing complex services out of components. An efficient and robust composition mechanism is essential for incremental development of useful services. We describe the CANEs Active Networking Environment. CANEs is an EE (Execution Environment) specifically built for composing services within the network. We discuss the design philosophy behind CANEs, describe the formal model which the composition mechanism is based upon, and detail the current CANEs implementation.