Spawning networks are a new class of
programmable networks that automate the
life cycle
Life cycle, life-cycle, or lifecycle may refer to:
Science and academia
*Biological life cycle, the sequence of life stages that an organism undergoes from birth to reproduction ending with the production of the offspring
*Life-cycle hypothesis, ...
process for the creation, deployment, and management of
network architecture
Network architecture is the design of a computer network. It is a framework for the specification of a network's physical components and their functional organization and configuration, its operational principles and procedures, as well as commun ...
. These networks are capable of spawning distinct ''child''
virtual network
In computing, network virtualization is the process of combining hardware and software network resources and network functionality into a single, software-based administrative entity, a virtual network. Network virtualization involves platform vi ...
s with their own transport, control, and management systems. This definition is created because the deployment of new network architectures, services, and
protocols
Protocol may refer to:
Sociology and politics
* Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states
* Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state
* Etiquette, a code of personal behavior
Science and technology
...
is often manual, ad hoc, and time-consuming.
The definition was introduced in a paper titled ''Spawning Networks'', published in IEEE Networks by a group of researchers from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
,
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...
,
Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 series ...
,
Hitachi Limited, and
Nortel Networks
Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec, ...
.
The authors are Andrew T. Campbell, Michael E. Kounavis, Daniel A. Villela, of Columbia University, John B. Vicente, of Intel Corporation, Hermann G. De Meer, of University of Hamburg, Kazuho Miki, of Hitachi Limited, and Kalai S. Kalaichelvan, of Nortel Networks.
There was also a paper titled "The Genesis Kernel: A Programming System for Spawning Network Architectures",
Michael E. Kounavis, Andrew T. Campbell, Stephen Chou, Fabien Modoux, John Vicente
and Hao Zhuang.
A first implementation of Spawning Networks was realized at Columbia University as part of the Ph.D thesis work of Michael Kounavis. This implementation is based on the design of the Genesis Kernel, a programming system consisting of three layers: A transport environment which is a collection of programmable virtual routers, a programming environment which offers open access to the programmable data path and a life cycle environment which is responsible for spawning and managing network architectures. One of the concepts used in design of the Genesis Kernel is the creation of a network architecture based on a profiling script specifying the architecture components and their interaction.
References
Network architecture
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