Network Reliability

Networks constitute the backbone needed to realize new and emerging computing paradigms, such as, Cloud Computing, Big Data Analytics, and the Internet-of-Things (IoT). To enable these use-cases, network service providers are moving to a software-centric network architecture, which allows for realizing agile, elastic, and dynamic networks through programmability.

This software-centric network architecture, referred to as Software-Defined Networking (SDN) or Network Function Virtualization (NFV), suggests significantly larger and more complex networks in our near future. Currently, network operators rely primarily on the experience of network administrators, who are supported by rather simple tools, to check and troubleshoot their packet networks.

Advanced automatic validation and troubleshooting capabilities hold the key to building, deploying, and maintaining SDN and NFV systems of the future. We are developing a suite of software tools and solutions to provide such capabilities and thereby empower SDN and NFV software developers, network operators, and network administrators in the development and deployment of robust and reliable networks.

Publications

1. Alex Horn, Ali Kheradmand, Mukul R. Prasad. Delta-net: Real-time Network Verification Using Atoms. In Proceedings of the 14th USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation, NSDI 2017, Boston, MA, USA, March 27-29, 2017. USENIX Association 2017, 735-749.