Application-defined control of virtual networks over IP-optical networks

This paper proposes a novel networking technology by which the network can be controlled according to the demands of the applications. Virtualization and resource management method based on GMPLS enable to independently operate multiple virtual networks upon a common physical network. A server called Physical Network Manager (PN Manager) collects resource and traffic measurement information and constructs the IP topology by setting up optical paths. It provides API in order for Virtual Network Agents (VN Agents) to design and adapt the virtual network topologies in accordance to the application-specific traffic demands. In this paper, we show a design of a VN Agent that provides a basic set of functions that enables application-defined network control. Through experiment conducted upon a nation-wide testbed, we have successfully proven that by VN Agent using the PN Manager API, multiple virtual networks can be independently operated with sufficient performance.