Towards an overlay network architecture

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Self-organizing overlay networks have emerged as a powerful new paradigm for deploying network services on a large scale, yet the full potential of this technology remains largely unexplored. This project will advance the state-of-the-art of self-organizing virtual overlay networks and show that design principles for self-organizing networks can be evolved into a blueprint for a new protocol architecture for future communication networks and services. We will develop algorithms and protocols for a network architecture that is entirely based on the principles of self-organizing overlay networks. Using analytical methods, simulation, and measurements of testbed implementations we will provide new insights into the capabilities and limitations of self-organizing networks. A key challenge addressed in this project is the development of algorithms and protocols that can maintain a connected overlay graph in the presence of multiple heterogeneous substrate networks. To show that self-organizing networks can deliver high delay and throughput performance at the lower layers of the system architecture, we propose the development of an `overlay switch' with hardware support for self-organizing overlay network protocols. We will explore algorithms that enable overlay networks to scale to millions of nodes. In addition, we will devise and evaluate algorithms for overlay networks that result in an efficient use of network resources.