Building Federated Research Networks in Europe

This paper describes research carried out by the GN3 project into network federation, i.e. sharing resources among multiple independent networks. The aim of the research is to investigate how federated networks can contribute to the research and education networks’ goal of improving performance and end-user service and reducing costs. To achieve this objective, we have assessed user demand for federated networks, analysing current and future projects requiring international data transmission, and investigated the three key building blocks for federated networks –network, operations and services – with particular reference to their current status among European NRENs and their potential usefulness or limitations for establishing a federation of research networks. We have used our findings to consider the architectural principles of federated networksand to develop models that optimise the use of shared resources and improve services. We have developed test cases to help refine the models, including one to support the Large Hadron Collider network, and have assessed the implications of a federated approach for both network operations and service delivery. Each of these aspects of our research is described in this paper, prefaced by a summary of the benefits and challenges of network federation and concluding with an outline of future work. The research’s originality lies in its exploitation of leading- edge technologies, its innovative proposals for international collaboration, its access to and application of primary data sources. The results are of valuenot onlyto GÉANT and European NRENs but also to any special- purposenetwork and core networks in general.