The GEANT Perspectives Fernando Liello NREN Policy Committee Chairman

Learn the Lesson GEANT is a success We have to plan for its development What want we to keep ? Where can we improve ? What would be better to change ? Which will be our next target ?

Europe as an Example More than 3100 Research Institutions Many Countries (currently 31) Different technological choices Different requirements in terms of service level Different funding and organizational schemes

GEANT Reach (in Europe)

The Key Elements A Layered Model Competent, Dedicated Organizations Campus National International Competent, Dedicated Organizations The NREN Consortium DANTE Sound no-nonsense Model Strategy and Control at the NREN level

Closing a Loop Research Networking Started with Mission Oriented Networks Economy of Scale lead to National (Multidisciplinary) Research Networks Today’s Developments can Revive Mission (or Experiment) Oriented Networks ? Is It only a Matter of Bandwidth ?

Infinite Bandwidth Can we afford to use ls as link unit ? We have to face the implementation lifecycle How long to have 40 Gbps on a l  How long to have 256 ls (or more) on one fiber  When a more efficient scheme of SDH for multiplexing/de-multiplexing capacity will be commercially available ?

Private Networks The Solution for Big Science Require Complex Organization Huge Investment Does Big Science Really Exist ? Who makes the Choice ? The Chain Effect: What happens if two Private Networks have a node in common ?

Virtual Private Networks Share the same physical infrastructure among many virtual ones Share of financial (and management) resources Allow Test and Production Grade services to coexist The Chain Problem is still there

Quality of Service E-to-E QoS implies Coordination of (at least) three organizations + the last mile problem The site A provider The site B provider The intermediate carrier Negotiate the needed level of Coordination (and how to implement it).

Virtual Temporary Connection Connect Computers to a Virtual Network on Request At the Required Bandwidth With Guaranteed QoS … the next step beyond GRID … … and far beyond l allocation

An Empty Network Commercial Internet serves an huge number of relatively small capacity transactions Average occupancy can be high to achieve profitability Research Networks have a small number of large capacity users Average level of usage must be low to guarantee availability

The Strategy Expand the Capacity to keep the bandwidth available to the users Create a VPN service to fulfill the request of mission oriented and development communities Introduce automatic end-to-end bandwidth allocation and QoS

The Challenges Make the Structure more Hierarchical Regional Networks Encourage the creation of Pan-Continental networks outside Europe Global Connectivity Research is Global Build the Global layer Make Research Networks more Flexible

Some (incomplete) Answer The Federal Model looks good Better technical coordination is vital The role of organizations like DANTE and TERENA is vital (but NRENs are essential) NREN control is the only practical solution Policy, Strategic, Financial and Technical Decisions

Some Constraints The large Political and Financial Support, that research networking currently enjoys, brings Obligations as well We must evolve the Research Network, not to destroy it to build a new one: flexibility must be the keyword To set the requirements too far ahead of time will be foolish

The Good Network The services must be visible and accessible The network you use to access them must be transparent hence invisible

Conclusions GEANT has proved its organization model Keep the physical network Federal but Unique and evolve it Implement technology and tools to allow the user to have a partitioned view of the network (if needed) Keep in mind the whole (global) picture