Net2plan: an open source network planning tool for bridging the gap between academia and industry

The plethora of network planning results published in top-ranked journals is a good sign of the success of the network planning research field. Unfortunately, it is often difficult for network carriers and ISPs to reproduce these investigations on their networks. This is partially because of the absence of a software planning tool, meeting the requirements of industry and academia, which can make the adaptation and validation of planning algorithms less time consuming. We describe how a paradigm shift to an open source view of the network planning field emphasizes the power of distributed peer review and transparency to create high-quality software at an accelerated pace and lower cost. Then we present Net2Plan, an open source Java-based software tool. Built on top of a technology-agnostic network representation, it automates the elaboration of performance evaluation tests for userdefined or built-in network design algorithms, network recovery schemes, connection-admission-control systems, or dynamic provisioning algorithms for timevarying traffic. The Net2Plan philosophy enforces code reutilization as an open repository of network planning resources. In this article, a case study in a multilayer IP-over-WDM network is presented to illustrate the potential of Net2Plan. We cover standard CAPEX studies, and more advanced aspects such as a resilience analysis of the network under random independent failures and disaster scenarios, and an energy efficiency assessment of “green” schemes that switch off parts of the network during low load periods. All the planning algorithms in this article are publicly available on the Net2Plan website.