Ciena's Dynamic Resource Allocation Controller Available as Open Source

Ciena, a dealer in practical network transition, has stated that their Dynamic Resource Allocation Controller (DRAC) is now available to users as open source software.  

 

According to the company, their Dynamic Resource Allocation Controller is an intelligent middleware for conditioning dynamic on-demand light-paths across different networks and networking requirements of scientific researchers worldwide. DRAC is also meant to provide the necessary steering mechanism to address the pragmatic next-generation networking concerns. 

 

Features such as data sources, storage facilities and computational resources help DRAC to offer guaranteed network services to end user through a web based portal to connect them. The primary goal of the DRAC is to enable a high degree of coupling between applications and networks that results in an improved application network experience, while optimizing equipment investments and operational expenses.

 

SURFnet, the organization that runs the national research and education network (NREN) of the Netherlands, has deployed DRAC at the heart of a hybrid optical and packet switching network architecture and has also combined together with Ciena based on the scientific research needs of those 150 institutions. 

 

The CTO of SURFnet, Erik-Jan Bos has acknowledged that while scientific research used to happen primarily within a faculty or even individually, they see their users now collaborating with colleagues across the globe using high definition video conferencing while receiving huge data's from scientific instruments and pulling multi-terabyte data sets from storage facilities, and also analyzing those data's using supercomputers across different networks on different continents. DRAC plays a key role in turning a multi-technology hybrid network into a dynamic network service that is schedulable to the needs of the user removing network obstacles on the path to scientific discovery.

 

It is also claimed that many research and education networks and users are currently identifying ways to further enhance and deploy DRAC to optimize the management and access of network resources for bandwidth-intensive applications. Large amounts of scientific data spread out in different databases by laboratories and scientific institutions are now able to connect these systems and are also able to share and transfer large amounts of data needed for various task. This includes data extraction and analysis in real time. 

 

Senior vice president and chief technology officer at Ciena, Steve Alexander has commented that they have always closely worked with the research and education community to deliver high performance networking solutions to connect researchers, data and computing resources spread around the world. And their work with SURFnet to virtualize network resources is another example of their focus on meeting the needs of customers in this market and open sourcing DRAC's development will expedite its ability to optimize dynamic services to meet the networking needs of globally-distributed researchers  

 

In related news, Ciena extended Carrier Ethernet service delivery portfolio and upgraded network capabilities of SPW&L Municipal utility.