Partitioning and differentiated resource allocation in programmable networks

Programmable network architectures facilitate dynamically updatable functionality to enable selective and trusted third parties on-demand service deployment. Resource and security management of such architectures on shared infrastructure have proven as challenging tasks. This is due to the extent of functionality provided to users and the heterogenous nature of service resource requirements and resource availability. In this paper we present a new programmable network platform that enables safe sharing by providing each trusted user (e.g., an Internet Service Provider) with a secure, separate, and resource assured partition, representing a 'virtual router', to accommodate their services. To allocate router internal resources among these partitions and among competing services within a partition, this paper uses a new scalable and adaptive mechanism called Control plane-Quality of Service (C-QoS). © 2005 IEEE