SBIR Phase I: High Frequency Network Traffic Optimization

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is that it could dramatically increase the efficiency of communication networks. The ability to dynamically, adaptively and optimally route traffic on data networks is expected to lead to network cost savings of 60% - 70% for network service providers. The project leverages the recent industry shift towards software-defined networking (SDN) that is projected to address a $35 billion market by 2018. The excitement behind SDN is driven primarily by the promised performance benefits of better traffic control. The company plans to capitalize on this market shift by implementing its optimized, dynamic and adaptive traffic control algorithms in SDN-controlled data networks. The resulting social impact will be that end users will have access to faster, cheaper and more robust data networks. In the longer term, efficient software control of networks will enable rapid innovation in networking, leading to new network applications that have not yet been envisioned. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on delivering commercial, smart, traffic control algorithms that can unlock the full capacity of modern communication networks. Today, due to unprecedented traffic growth, network operators face major challenges in efficient resource utilization. The problem is that the inherent randomness of data traffic has led to network designers over-provisioning networks to the point that they currently run at 30% - 40% utilization on average. The company's competitive advantage is a new algorithm that will enable optimal management of traffic variations by adjusting network routes in real time while retaining the scalability and simplicity of today's protocols. The goal in this project is to build a prototype application that can be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solution at selected test partners. Feedback from the demonstrations will be used to further develop the prototype into an application that can be integrated with test partners' commercial networks. By the end of the project, the company anticipates completing beta tests and verification of the application in commercial settings.