NetLab

GreenNet (formally "Greening the Network") is an Italian Research project , founded by the Italian Ministry of Research and University (MIUR) under the FIRB "Future in Research Program". GreenNet is a three-year project, started in March 2012. GreenNet is coordinated by DR. Roberto Bruschi, and includes three Research Units: - the CNIT Research Unit at the University of Genoa (CNIT-GE) [Resp. Roberto Bruschi], - the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (UNIRM) [Resp. Antonio Cianfrani], - the University of Pisa (UNIPI) [Resp. Gregorio Procissi]

GreenNet aims at re-thinking and re-designing different aspects of the current Internet technologies and network protocols to smartly support hardware power management. The pursued approach will exploit two basic features already and largely present in today's networks and devices: the network resource virtualization and the modular architecture of nodes. These features give us the opportunity of using the same base concepts already applied in other fields (e.g., data-centers): decoupling physical elements (e.g., a line-card), which may be put in standby or scaled down their capacities to perform only base operations, from their (virtual) functionalities and resources, so that the latter can be migrated towards other active physical elements of the same device, or of other neighboring devices. In this way, the emptied physical elements may be put in standby mode, while their logical services may continue to work elsewhere. The GreenNet project aims at investigating a coordinated set of architectural solutions, protocol enhancements, control and optimization strategies, and related software developments in order to support such kind of primitives at both core and access networks. From a more general point of view and in extreme synthesis, the development of such approach will allow: Core network nodes aggregating routing and switching functionalities into a subset of their physical resources (e.g., line-cards), and put their emptied modules in standby mode. End-host terminals (PCs, Customer Premises Equipment) migrating the “network presence” of their applications and/or services to network devices, and entering standby while maintaining network services up. Obviously, the project goal is not so ambitious to pretend that it can provide a complete characterization of such a complex and multi-faceted task. However, the approach it takes tries to focus on the integration of three main activities that contribute to the whole picture: Enabling Green Primitives in Next-Generation Network Devices Exploiting Virtualization Schemes in Network Protocols and Services Network-wide green optimizations The activity 1) will provide the initial inputs by integrating power scaling and standby capabilities into network device hardware platforms. Specific efforts will be devoted to the study and the extension of “open” modular device architectures, able to flexibly distributing network operations to different “internal” sub-elements. Starting from these energy-aware devices, the activity 2) will focus on network-specific virtualization schemes for decoupling network services and applications from physical elements, and make them able to migrate among active hardware. Specific research activities will be devoted to the virtualization of services and protocols at both home and core network levels. Then, the activity 3) is devoted to explore novel network-wide criteria to design and to control next-generation networks, composed by energy-aware nodes with the introduced capabilities. The ideas carried out in the GreenNet project will not be limited to the development of analytical and simulative models, but they will be included in a green "proof-of-concept" prototype device (realized on Linux-based SW routers), in order to demonstrate their feasibility and main impact. 

Entities Involved: 

University of Rome Sapienza

University of Genova

University of Pisa

Local coordinator: Antonio Cianfrani