Federating heterogeneous network virtualization platforms by slice exchange point

An architecture called the slice-exchange-point (SEP) has been designed for federating heterogeneous net-work-virtualization platforms by creating and managing slices (virtual networks). SEP enables whole inter-domain resources to be managed by the network manager of any single domain. Slice-operation commands are propagated to other domains through SEP by using a common API. SEP introduces the following four features: infrastructure neutrality, single interface federation, abstract and clean federation, and extensibility of capabilities. SEP's functions to achieve these features are discussed. SEP was partially implemented on two VNode domains and one ProtoGENI domain and was verified to function effectively.