FIND

1
FIND

• John Wroclawski
• USC ISI
• IEEE CCW - October 2005
• Good Morning

2

• Caveats
• Shilling for others Dave Clark (MIT) and a
  collection of collaborators and kibbitzers
• Not speaking for the NSF
• 20 minute version of a 60 minute talk..
• We is you. And me. All of us in the networking
  research community

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The starting point

• NSF is working with its research communities and
  interested collaborators to create a major new
  networking research initiative
• It has two parts
• FIND is a research program
• GENI is a facility for research - a piece of
  infrastructure
• FIND is the lead motivation for GENI
• GENI is broader in use than FIND
• This talk is almost entirely about FIND

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What needs doing?

• Help people to think architecturally
• Bring out and develop the best architectural
  ideas (of any size..)
• Coalesce ideas into architectural proposals
• Test, evaluate, deploy..
• Impact the larger world..
• Not quite business as usual.

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FINDs challenge questions

• 1) What are the requirements for the global
  network of 10 or 15 years from now, and what
  should that network look like?
• To conceive the future, it helps to let go of the
  present
• 2) How would we re-conceive tomorrows global
  network today, if we could design it from
  scratch?
• This is not change for the sake of change, but a
  chance to free our minds. A clean slate process.

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Isnt todays net good enough?

• Security and robustness.
• As available as the phone system
• Been trying for 15 years -- try differently?
• Easier to manage.
• Really hard intellectual problem
• No framework in original design
• Recognize the importance of non-technical
  considerations
• Consider the economic landscape.
• Consider the social context.

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The technical push

• New network technology
• Wireless
• Mobility
• Dynamic impairments
• Advanced optics
• Dynamic capacity allocation
• New computing paradigms
• Embedded processors everywhere
• Sensors..
• Grid..
• Whatever computing is, that is what the Internet
  should support.
• The Internet grew up in a stable PC paradigm
  time.
• Now it is becoming different..

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The scope of the challenge

• Is it Internet classic? A cloud of routers with
  general purpose computers at the edges?
• No! The scope of the question is much bigger than
  that.
• Ask what will the edge look like. That is
  where the action is.
• Sensors. Embedded computers
• Or is it?
• Ask what is it that users do? Try to
  conceptualize a network that supports them
• Information access and dissemination
• Location management and location-aware systems
• Identity management systems
• Conceptualize at a higher level (not higher layer)

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What should we reconsider?

• For the moment, everything
• Packets, datagrams, circuits? -- (yawn)
• Religious beliefs
• End to end, transparency, our model for layering,
  layering
• The F is Future. To conceive of a future, must
  let go of the present
• This does not mean that we cannot get there
  incrementally..
• But it is useful to know where youre going

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Defining success

• We throw away the current Internet.
• The most dramatic form of success.
• We set a goal, and the we realize we can get
  there incrementally.
• Impose a bias or direction on change.
• Lots of fresh ideas leak into the present
  Internet.
• Research community shows up at the IETF again

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Timing

• This is a long term effort.
• IPv6 started in 1990.
• It is less important when we start, more
  important that we do so.
• We can and will do mid-course correction.
• Adjust the objective as we get closer.
• Long term research has short-term fallout.
• Short term research only accidentally, if at all,
  achieves a long-term objective.

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A key benefit

• Today, we see erosion of clean design
  principles--architecture. Should we care?
• Clean architecture means clean interfaces, as
  well as better behavior.
• Interfaces create opportunities for innovation.
• Architecture defines a framework around which
  innovation and evolution occurs
• The definition paradox
• The avoidance of accidental limitations

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If we dont do this?

• If we dont step up to conceive of what
  networking will be in 10 years
• A narrowing of the utility of the Internet to
  specific purposes. E-commerce?
• A pervasive loss of confidence in Internet.
• Limit ability ability to exploit new technology.
• A shift of focus (inside NSF) to sectors that
  seem more relevant and vigorous.
• A gentle glide into irrelevance for research.

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• Caution Gears Shifting

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Architecture

• A process putting components together to make an
  entity that serves a purpose.
• A result entities come to be defined by their
  architecture.
• Think about the original form of architecture.
• A discipline architects study past examples,
  learn patterns and approaches.
• All of these apply to real architects and to
  computer science.

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Architecture research areas

• Putting components together
• Modularity, interfaces, reuse, dependency
• For a purpose
• Successful architecture recognizes what a system
  cannot do.
• Honoring design patterns, approaches and cautions
  (and increasingly, systems theory).
• General layering, abstraction, size of modules,
  second-system syndrome.
• Internet end to end, transparency vs. conversion
  (spanning layer), the hour-glass model,
  soft/hard state.

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How does GENI fit in?

• Framework for Building Blocks
• Virtualization, embedder, management
• Framework for Services
• Stable platform, access to users, measurement and
  observation
• Framework for Transition
• Real users, connection to current net, scalable
• Framework for Community

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GENI Goals and Key Concepts
Goal shared platform that promotes innovations
embedding infrastructure for testbeds Key
Concepts Slicing, Virtualization,
Programmability, Modularity, Federation..
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Details of the Facility (snapshot)
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Global and Local Software
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