WirePlanner: Fast, Secure and Cost-Efficient Route Configuration for SD-WAN

As enterprises increasingly migrate their applications to the cloud, the demand for secure and cost-effective Wide Area Networking (WAN) solutions for data transmission between branches and data centers grows. Among these solutions, Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) has emerged as a promising approach. However, existing SD-WAN implementations largely rely on IPSec tunnels for data encryption between edge routers, resulting in drawbacks such as extended setup times and limited throughput. Additionally, the SD-WAN control plane rarely takes both latency and monetary cost into consideration when determining routes between nodes, resulting in unsatisfactory Quality of Service (QoS). We propose WirePlanner, an SD-WAN solution that employs a novel algorithm for path discovery, optimizing both latency and cost, and configures WireGuard tunnels for secure and efficient data transmission. WirePlanner considers two payment methods: Pay-As-You-Go, where users pay for a fixed amount of bandwidth over a certain duration, and Pay-For-Data-Transfer, where users pay for the volume of transmitted data. Given an underlay topology of edge routers and a user-defined budget constraint, WirePlanner identifies a path between nodes that minimizes latency and remains within the budget, while utilizing WireGuard for secure data transmission

Techno-Economic Assessment in Communications: New Challenges

This article shows a brief history of Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) in Communications, a proposed redefinition of TEA as well as the new challenges derived from a dynamic context with cloud-native virtualized networks, the Helium Network & alike blockchain-based decentralized networks, the new network as a platform (NaaP) paradigm, carbon pricing, network sharing, and web3, metaverse and blockchain technologies. The authors formulate the research question and show the need to improve TEA models to integrate and manage all this increasing complexity. This paper also proposes the characteristics TEA models should have and their current degree of compliance for several use cases: 5G and beyond, software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), secure access service edge (SASE), secure service edge (SSE), and cloud cybersecurity risk assessment. The authors also present TEA extensibility to request for proposals (RFP) processes and other industries, to conclude that there is an urgent need for agile and effective TEA in Comms that allows industrialization of agile decision-making for all market stakeholders to choose the optimal solution for any technology, scenario and use case.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure, 2 table

Analysis about benefits of software-defined wide area network: a new alternative for WAN connectivity

This article is based on conducting research to analyze the benefits of emerging trends in communications and networking technology, such as software-defined wide area networks. Using Waterfall as a methodology, the main objective is to carry out a technical comparison at the design and configuration level, creating a virtual environment that simulates traditional and SDWAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) infrastructures. The results obtained verify that the benefits of SDWAN maintain business continuity, anticipate situations in which the infrastructure can act intelligently, optimize connectiv-ity while maintaining security, and provide improvements in the management of the entire infrastructure. People will be able to see the results obtained between both technologies and validate the benefits that SDWAN offers .Campus Lima Centr

The journey from 5G towards 6G

This paper gives an overview of the journey from 5G towards 6G evolution. The 5G has been built across three main application verticals as defined by ITU, namely: Enhanced Mobile Broadband, Massive Machine Type Communications and Ultra-reliable Low Latency Communications (URRLC). To support these verticals, 5G has defined the following enablers: Massive MIMO, cloudification of network infrastructure, network automation, network slicing and edge cloud computing. It is expected that 5G will provide flexibility in terms of openness, mobility, programmability and agility and robustness in a standardized manner. The journey towards 6G will describe the limitations of 5G technologies and outlines the technology enablers for 6G. These enablers include smooth integration and interworking of Non-Terrestrial Networking technologies (NTN), use of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) and use of AI to orchestrate network and cloud resources. Additionally, the paper will give an overview of 6G research initiatives at both regional and international level

Towards Safe Load Balancing based on Control Barrier Functions and Deep Reinforcement Learning

Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) algorithms have recently made significant strides in improving network performance. Nonetheless, their practical use is still limited in the absence of safe exploration and safe decision-making. In the context of commercial solutions, reliable and safe-to-operate systems are of paramount importance. Taking this problem into account, we propose a safe learning-based load balancing algorithm for Software Defined-Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), which is empowered by Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) combined with a Control Barrier Function (CBF). It safely projects unsafe actions into feasible ones during both training and testing, and it guides learning towards safe policies. We successfully implemented the solution on GPU to accelerate training by approximately 110x times and achieve model updates for on-policy methods within a few seconds, making the solution practical. We show that our approach delivers near-optimal Quality-of-Service (QoS performance in terms of end-to-end delay while respecting safety requirements related to link capacity constraints. We also demonstrated that on-policy learning based on Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) performs better than off-policy learning with Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) when both are combined with a CBF for safe load balancing.Comment: Accepted to IEEE/IFIP NOMS 202

Routing policy validation for the integrated system supporting routing in Software Defined Networks (SDNRoute)

In the article, a validation module, being a component of an integrated system supporting routing in software defined networks (SDNRoute), is proposed and thoroughly examined. The module allows for the verification of the results provided by the optimization module before these results are deployed in the production network. Routing policies are validated for their impact on the network quality parameters and against the threat of overloading (congestion)

La seguridad en redes SDN y sus aplicaciones

Introduction: The review article is the product of the research on Security in SDN networks and their applications, developed at the District University in 2020, presenting the latest advances, that have been made in security. Problem: The security weaknesses that SDN networks have had, due to being a new architecture. This has not allowed traditional networks to be replaced.   Objective: To carry out a review of the state of the art of SDN networks, focusing research on the security of the control layer and its advances. Methodology: The descriptive method is implemented, consulting databases such as Scopus, IEEE and ScienceDirect, using the following search criteria: SDN networks, security in SDN networks, applications with SDN networks and OpenFlow protocol. It is shown as a research sample: the Asian, European and American continents with years of research from 2014 to 2020. Results: Great advances have been made in terms of security for SDN networks, which allows us to see an early solution to the weaknesses that it currently faces.   Conclusion: SDN networks will solve all the challenges they face and will be consolidated as a solid and reliable architecture.   Originality: an important focus is taken on the security of SDN networks and the great development that has occurred in this regard is evident.   Limitations: SDN networks are a new architecture, so their development has been very little and advances in security have been significantly affected.Introducción: El artículo de revisión es producto de la investigación Seguridad en redes SDN y sus aplicaciones, desarrollada en la Universidad Distrital en el año 2020, presentando los últimos avances que se han logrado en seguridad. Problema: Las debilidades en seguridad que han tenido las redes SDN debido a ser una arquitectura nueva, esto no ha permitido que se reemplacen las redes tradicionales. Objetivo: realizar una revisión del estado del arte de las redes SDN enfocando la investigación la seguridad de la capa de control y sus avances. Metodología: se emplea el método descriptivo, se consultaron bases de datos como Scopus, IEEE y ScienceDirect, utilizando los siguientes criterios de búsqueda: SDN networks, security in SDN networks, applications with SDN networks y OpenFlow protocol, se tomó como muestra de investigación a los continentes asiático, europeo y americano con años de investigación desde el año 2014 hasta el año 2020. Resultados: se han desarrollado grandes avances en seguridad para las redes SDN, lo que permite ver una pronta solución a las debilidades que afronta en la actualidad. Conclusión: las redes SDN lograran resolver todos los retos a los que se enfrentan y se consolidara como una arquitectura sólida y confiable. Originalidad: se realiza un enfoque importante en la seguridad de las redes SDN y se evidencia el gran desarrollo que se ha presentado en este aspecto. Limitaciones: las redes SDN son una arquitectura nueva por lo que su desarrollo ha sido muy poco y los avances en seguridad se vieron afectados significativamente